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A STUDENTS' HISTORY OF GREECE 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK ■ BOSTON ■ CHICAGO 
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MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

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TORONTO 



A STUDENTS' 



HISTORY OF GREECE 



BY 
J. B. BURY, M.A. 

HON. LITT.D. (OXON. AND DURHAM); HON. LL.D. (EDINBURGH AND 

GLASGOW) ; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY 

OF SCIENCES, ST. PETERSBURG; FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, 

DUBLIN, AND OF KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; REGIUS 

PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY 

OF CAMBRIDGE 



EDITED AND PREPARED FOR 
AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES 



BY 
EVERETT KIMBALL, Ph.D. 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, SMITH COLLEGE 
SOMETIME ASSISTANT IN HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



Ntfo gorfe 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1907 

All rights reserved 






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COPY B. 



Copyright, 1907, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1907. 



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Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

With the consent of Professor J. B. Bury, I have prepared an 
edition of his " History of Greece for Beginners " which may serve 
as a text-book for Secondary Schools in this country. In pre- 
paring this edition, I have confined myself chiefly to excision, 
although in places a somewhat different arrangement of material 
has been adopted. No statement of fact has been changed, and 
as far as possible the author's exact language has been retained. 
This is especially true in the chapters dealing with Alexander, 
where, to keep the spirited account of the original, the proportion 
of this revision may have been sacrificed. I have ventured to add 
brief paragraphs dealing with some of the more important Greek 
authors, and to expand the paragraphs on the adornment of 
Athens ; and have supplied a large number of new maps. To 
make the book more serviceable in Secondary Schools, a very 
few of the more important references to supplementary reading 
which I have found useful have been appended to each chapter ; 
for those who wish more detailed topical reading, references 
have been given to "A History Syllabus for Secondary Schools, 
prepared by a Special Committee of the New England Teachers' 
Association." 

I am under deepest obligations to Professor Edward Chan- 

ning of Harvard University, who has read my manuscript and 

made many valuable suggestions. Acknowledgment is also 

due to my friend, Mr. H. B. Hinckley, who has assisted in 

reading the proof. 

E. K. 

Northampton, Massachusetts, 
August 15, 1907. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

The Beginnings of Greek Civilization 

ART. PAGE 

1. Greece and the JEge&n I 

2. The Divisions of Greece ......... 2 

3. Influence of Geography on History ....... 5 

4. Remains of ^Egean Civilization ........ 6 

5. Inferences from the Relics of ^Egean Civilization .... 16 

CHAPTER II 
The Greek Conquest and the Homeric Age 

1. The Greek Conquest 21 

2. Expansion of the Greeks to the Eastern /Egean .... 23 

3. The Later Wave of Greek Invasion ....... 27 

4. The Dorian Migration ......... 29 

5. Homer 31 

6. Political and Social Organization of the Early Greeks ... 34 

7. Fall of Greek Monarchies and Rise of the Republics • . • 38 

8. Phoenician Intercourse with Greece 39 

CHAPTER III 



The Expansion of Greece 

1. Causes and Character of Greek Colonization .... 

2. Colonies on the Coasts of the Euxine, Propontis, and North .Fgean 

3. Colonies in the Western Mediterranean 

4. Growth of Trade and Maritime Enterprise 

5. Influence of Lydia on Greece .... 

6. The Opening of Egypt and Foundation of Cyrene 

7. Popular Discontent in Greece .... 



42 

44 

46 

54 
58 
60 
60 



viii CONTENTS 



CHAPTER IV 
Growth of Sparta. Fall of Aristocracies 

ART. PAGE 

1. Sparta and her Constitution 64 

2. Spartan Conquest of Messenia 68 

3. Internal Development of Sparta and her Institutions . . 71 

4. The Supremacy and Decline of Argos. The Olympian Games . 75 

5. Changes in Law. Democratic Movements 78 

6. Tyrants 79 

7. Tyrants at Corinth 81 

8. Tyrants of Megara 83 

9. Tyrants at Sicyon 84 

10. The Sacred War. The Panhellenic Games 85 



CHAPTER V 

The Union of Attica and the Foundation of the 
Athenian Democracy 

1. The Union of Attica 90 

2. Foundation of the Athenian Commonwealth . . . . .91 

3. The Aristocracy in the Seventh Century 93 

4. The Timocracy .......... 94 

5. The Conspiracy of Cylon ......... 96 

6. The Laws of Dracon 96 

7. The Legislation of Solon 97 

8. The Constitutional Reforms of Solon, and the Foundations of 

Democracy 99 

9. Effects of the Legislation of Solon 101 

CHAPTER VI 

Growth of Athens in the Sixth Century 

1. The Conquest of Salamis ........ 103 

2. Athens under Pisistratus 104 

3. Growth of Sparta, and the Peloponnesian League .... 109 

4. Fall of the Pisistratids and Intervention of Sparta . . . .111 

5. Reform of Cleisthenes . . . . . . . . .114 

6. First Victories of the Democracy 117 



CONTENTS 



IX 



ART. 
I. 
2. 

3- 
4- 

5- 

6. 

7- 



CHAPTER VII 
The Advance of Persia to the ^Egean 

The Rise of Persia and the Fall of the Lydian Kingdom 

The Persian Conquest of Asiatic Greece, and Egypt 

The First Years of Darius. Conquest of Thrace 

The Ionic Revolt against Persia 

Second and Third Expeditions of Darius 

The Battle of Marathon. Miltiades 

Struggle of Athens and ^Egina 

Growth of the Athenian Democracy 

Athens becomes a Sea-Power. Themistocles 



PAGE 

119 

122 

123 

126 

129 

130 

134 

!35 
136 



CHAPTER VIII 
The Perils of Greece. The Persian and Punic Invasions 

1. The Preparations and March of Xerxes . . . . . . 139 

2. Preparations of Greece . . . . . . . . .140 

3. Battle of Artemisium 142 

4. Battle of Thermopylae . . . . . . . . .144 

5. The Persian Advance. The Capture of Athens .... 146 

6. The Battle of Salamis ......... 147 

7. Consequences of Salamis . . . . . . . . .150 

8. Preparations for Another Campaign . . . . . .150 

9. The Battle of Plataea 152 

10. The Battle of Mycale and the Capture of Sestos . . . . 153 

11. Gelon, Tyrant of Syracuse . . . . . . . .154 

12. Syracuse under Hieron 156 



CHAPTER IX 
The Foundation of the Athenian Empire 



1. The Position of Sparta and the Career of Pausanias 

2. The Confederacy of Delos ..... 

3. The 1 Fortification of Athens and the Piraeus 

4. Ostracism and Death of Themistocles 

5. Successful Campaigns of the Confederacy of Delos . 

6. The Confederacy of Delos becomes an Athenian Empire 

7. Policy and Ostracism of Cimon . 



159 
161 

163 
165 
166 
167 
169 



X 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER X 



The Athenian Empire under the Guidance of Pericles 



ART. 

1. The Completion of the Athenian Democracy, 

2. War of Athens with the Peloponnesians 

3. War with Egypt .... 

4. War in Boeotia .... 

5. The Athenian Empire at its Height 

6. Conclusion of Peace with Persia 

7. Athenian Reverses. The Thirty Years' Peace 



Pericles 



172 

x 75 
176 

177 

179 

180 

181 



CHAPTER XI 
The Imperialism of Pericles 

1. Aims of Pericles 183 

2. The Restoration of the Temples . . . . . . .185 

3. Literature 189 

4. Higher Education. The Sophists . . . . . . .190 

5. Opposition to Pericles ......... 191 

6. The Piraeus. Athenian Commercial Policy . . . . .191 

7. The Revolt of Samos 193 



CHAPTER XII 
The War of Athens with the Peloponnesians 

1. The Prelude to the War 195 

2. Sparta decides upon War . . . . . . . .196 

3. The Theban Attack on Plataea 198 

4. Spartan Invasions. Athenian Retaliation . . . . . 199 

5. The Plague. The Death of Pericles 200 

6. The Siege and Capture of Platoea ....... 202 

7. Revolt of Mytilene. New Leaders at Athens 203 

8. Warfare in Western Greece. Tragic Events in Corcyra . . . 205 

9. Nicias and Cleon. Politics at Athens 206 

10. The Athenian Capture of Pylos ....... 207 

11. Athenian Expedition to Bceotia. Delium ..... 210 

12. The War in Thrace. Athens loses Amphipolis. Brasidas . .212 

13. Negotiations for Peace 213 



CONTENTS XI 

ART. PAGE 

14. Battle of Amphipolis 214 

15. The Peace of Nicias 214 

CHAPTER XIII 
The Decline of the Athenian Empire 

1. New Political Combinations with Argos 217 

2. Renewal of the War. Alcibiades 217 

3. First Operations in Sicily 219 

4. The Sicilian Expedition 220 

5. Treachery of Alcibiades ......... 222 

6. The Siege of Syracuse 222 ' 

7. Spartan Intervention 223 

8. The Defeat of the Athenians 224 

9. The Revolt of the Allies 224 

CHAPTER XIV 

The Downfall of the Athenian Empire 

1. The Oligarchical Revolution 227 

2. Fall of the Four Hundred. The Democracy Restored . . . 228 

3. The Restored Democracy. Cyzicus 230 

4. Cyrus and Lysander 231 

5. Return of Alcibiades. Battles of Notion and the Arginusae 

Islands . . . . . . . . . . .231 

6. The Battle of ^Egospotami ........ 233 

7. The Surrender of Athens 234 

8. Rule of the Thirty . 236 

9. Overthrow of the Thirty. Restoration of the Democracy . . 238 
10. Literature of the Period 239 

CHAPTER XV 

The Spartan Supremacy and the Persian War 

1. The Spartan Supremacy 241 

2. The Rebellion of Cyrus and the March of the Ten Thousand . . 241 

3. War of Sparta with Persia. Agesilaus ...... 244 

4. Spartan Aggression. Death of Lysander ..... 245 



Xll 



CONTENTS 



ART. PAGE 

5. " The Corinthian War " 246 

6. The King's Peace 248 

7. High-handed Policy of Sparta 249 

8. Alliance of Athens and Thebes 251 

9. Theban Reforms. Epaminondas . . . . . . . 253 

10. The Second Athenian League ........ 253 

11. The Battle of Naxos and the Peace of Callias 254 

12. Literature and Art 256 

13. Athens under the Restored Democracy 261 

CHAPTER XVI 



The Hegemony of Thebes 

1. Jason of Pherse and the Battle of Leuctra 

2. Policy of Thebes in Southern Greece, Arcadia, and Messenia 

3. Foundation of Messene. Alliance of Athens and Sparta 

4. Confusion on the Peloponnesus 

5. Policy of Thebes in Northern Greece 

6. War between Athens and Thebes . 

7. War on the Peloponnesus. Battle of Olympia 

8. Battle of Mantinea. The Death of Epaminondas 



264 
267 
269 
270 
270 
271 
272 
273 



CHAPTER XVII / 
The Syracusan Empire and the Struggle with Carthage 

1. Carthaginian Destruction of Selinus and Himera .... 276 

2. Rise of Dionysius 277 

3. Tyranny of Dionysius 278 

4. Punic Wars of Dionysius 279 

5. The Empire of Dionysius. His Death 280 

6. Dionysius the Younger and Dion 283 

7. Timoleon ........... 285 



CHAPTER XVIII 
The Rise of Macedonia 



1. Macedonia 

2. Early Conquests of Philip II. of Macedonia 



287 
288 



CONTENTS xiii 

ART. PAGE 

3. The Organization of the Macedonian Army 290 

4. Mausolus of Caria .......... 291 

5. Phocis and the Sacred War 292 

6. Intervention of Philip of Macedonia 294 

7. Aims of Philip 295 

8. Demosthenes 296 

9. The Advance of Macedonia. Fall of Olynthus .... 298 

10. The Peace of Philocrates 299 

11. Philip in Greece .......... 300 

12. Interval of Peace and Preparations for War 301 

13. March of Philip. Alliance of Athens and Thebes .... 303 

14. Battle of Chseronea 304 

15. The Congress of the Greeks 305 

16. Death of Philip 307 

CHAPTER XIX 

The Conquest of Persia 

1. Alexander in Greece and Thrace 310 

2. Preparations for Alexander's Persian Expedition. Condition of 

Persia ............ 313 

3. Conquest of Asia Minor 316 

4. Battle of Issus 320 

5. Conquest of Syria 323 

6. Conquest of Egypt 328 

7. Battle of Gaugamela, and Conquest of Babylonia .... 329 

8. Conquest of Susiana and Persis ....... 333 

9. Death of Darius 334 

IO. Spirit of Alexander's Policy as Lord of Asia 337 

CHAPTER XX 

The Conquest of the Far East 

1. Hyrcania, Areia, Bactria, Sogdiana 339 

2. The Conquest of India ......... 347 

3. Alexander's Return to Babylon 358 

4. Preparations for an Arabian Expedition. Alexander's Death . .361 

5. Greece under Macedonia 363 

6. The Episode of Harpalus and the Greek Revolt .... 365 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Acropolis . . Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Coin of Cnossus ........... 7 

Lion Gate, Mycenae .......... 9 

Troy (Sixth City) !■? 

Siege Scene on Silver Vessel . . . . . . . . 1 r 

Gem showing Female Dress 16 

Painted Tombstone with Warriors 19 

Gold Cup 26 

Early Coin of Potidaea 46 

Coin of Zancle ........... co 

Coin of Himera ........... co 

Coin of Syracuse, Early c ! 

Coin of Taras, Fifth Century 54 

Dipylon Vase \ m # .57 

Electron Coin of Lydia eg 

Coin of Halicarnassus co 

Coins of Cyrene ........ 60 

Early Coin of Caulonia 62 

Temple of Hera and Zeus . 76 

Coin of Corinth, Sixth-Fifth Century 81 

Pillars of an Old Temple at Corinth 83 

Athena and Poseidon oj 

Coin of Athens, Early g. 

Troops at Athens IO r 

Athena slaying Giant io 8 

Harmodius and Aristogiton i I2 

Gold Coin of Sardis I20 

Croesus on the Pyre l2l 

Coin of Gela, Early IC r 

Coin of Syracuse, Fifth Century I5 6 

Helmet dedicated by Hieron T r 7 

Coin of Elis, Early l6l 

xv 






xvi ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Portrait Head, perhaps of Cimon 169 

Pericles, Copy of Portrait by Cresilas . . . . . . 173 

Coin of Thebes . . . . . . . . . . .177 

Coin of Cition, Fifth Century . . . . . . . . .180 

Athena and Hephaestus . . . . . . . . . .187 

Early Coin of Samos .......... 194 

Coin of Corcyra, Fifth Century . . . . . . . 195 

Athena contemplating a Stele ........ 201 

Coin of Selinus, Fifth Century ........ 220 

Coin of Cnidus ........... 225 

Coin of Eleusis . . . . . . . . . . .231 

Coin of Trapezus ........... 244 

Daric, Fourth Century . . . . . . . . ... 249 

Coin of Chalcidice ........... 250 

Portrait Head of Socrates . . . . . . . . . 257 

Portrait Head of Isocrates ......... 260 

Coin of Messene ........... 269 

Coin of Elis ............ 273 

Coins of Syracuse and Acragas ........ 276 

Alliance Coin of Leontini and Catane ....... 286 

Coin of Archelaus I. ......... 288 

Coin of Philip II 288 

Gold Coin of Philippi 289 

Coin of Mausolus 291 

Coin of Delphic Amphictiony . . . . . . , 293 

Portrait Head of Demosthenes ........ 297 

Alexander the Great . . . . . . . . . . 311 

Silver Coin of Tarsus .......... 319 

Silver Coin of Sidon .......... 324 

Silver Coin of Tyre 326 

Coin of Cyrene, Zeus Ammon . . . . . . . . 329 

Propylea of Xerxes 335 

Coin of Alexander 358 



MAPS 

FULL-PAGE 

PAGE 

Greece {colored') ........ between I and 2 

Physical Features of Greece 4 

Area of Mycenaean Civilization {colored) ..... facing 10 *► 

The Greek Conquests {colored) ...... "22 

Greek Settlements in Sicily and Italy 47 

Persia 124 

Magna Graecia ......... facing 156 f 

Athenian Empire {colored) ....... facing 166 , 

The Allies of Athens and Sparta {colored) . . . . "198 

Empire of Dionysius .......... 281 

Route of Alexander . . . . . . . . . •3 I 7 

Bactria and Sogdiana 340 

Northwestern India .......... 349 

IN TEXT 

The Peloponnesus ........... 5 

The Argive Plain 18 

Colonies in the Pontus and the Propontis ...... 44 

Greek Colonies in the Northern zEgean . . . ... . 45 

Sparta 69 

The Sacred War and Delphic Amphictiony 86 

Boeotia 88 

Attica 92 

The Ionic Revolt 128 

Battle of Marathon 131 

The Persian Wars 141 

Thermopylae and Artemisium ......... 145 

The Battle of Salamis 148 

The Invasion of Xerxes . . . . . . . . . • I 5 I 

Battle of PI ataea . 152 

xvii 



xviii MAPS 

PAGE 

Campaigns in Boeotia . . . . . . * » . .178 

Athenian Acropolis . . . . . . . . . 185 

Athens and the Piraeus 192 

Sieges of Pylos and Sphacteria ........ 208 

Campaigns in Bceotia . . . . . . . . . .211 

Campaigns of Brasidas . . . . . . . . . .213 

The Siege of Syracuse 223 

Expedition of Cyrus and Retreat of the Ten Thousand .... 243 
Campaigns in Boeotia .......... 246 

The Battle of Leuctra 265 

Power of Sparta and Thebes in the Peloponnesus ..... 268 
Growth of the Power of Macedonia ....... 290 

Bceotia 293 

Battle of Issus 321 

Siege of Tyre 325 



A STUDENTS' HISTORY OF GREECE 



HISTORY OF GREECE 

CHAPTER I 

THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

i. Greece and the JEgean. — The most striking feature of con- 
tinental Greece is the deep gulf which has cleft it asunder into two 
parts. The southern half ought to have been an island, — as its 
Greek name, " the island of Pelops," suggests, — but it holds on to 
the continent by a narrow bridge of land at the eastern extremity 
of the great cleft. Now this physical feature has the utmost sig- 
nificance for the history of Greece; and its significance may be 
viewed in three ways, if we consider the existence of the dividing 
gulf, the existence of the isthmus, and the fact that the isthmus 
was at the eastern and not at the western end. (i) The double 
effect of the gulf itself is clear at once. It let the sea in upon a 
number of folk who would otherwise have been inland moun- 
taineers, and increased enormously the length of the seaboard of 
Greece. Further, the gulf constituted southern Greece a world 
by itself; so that it could be regarded as a separate land from 
northern Greece. (2) But if the island of Pelops had been in very 
truth an island, — if there had been no isthmus, — there would 
have been from the earliest ages direct and constant intercourse 
between the coasts which are washed by the iEgean and those 
which are washed by the Ionian Sea. The eastern and western 
lands of Greece would have been brought nearer to one another, 
when the ships of trader or warrior, instead of tediously circum- 
navigating the Peloponnesus, could sail from the eastern to the 
western sea through the middle of Greece. The disappearance 



2 THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

of the isthmus would have revolutionized the roads of traffic and 
changed the centers of commerce ; and the wars of Grecian history 
would have been fought out on other lines. (3) Again, if the 
bridge which attached the Peloponnesus to the mainland had been 
at the western end of the gulf, the lands along either shore of the 
inlet would have been more accessible to the commerce of the 
iEgean and the Orient; the civilization of northwestern Greece 
might have been more rapid and intense; and the history of 
Bceotia and Attica, unhooked from the Peloponnesus, would 
have run a different course. 

The character of the ^Egean basin was another determining con- 
dition of the history of the Greeks. Strewn with countless islands 
it seems meant to promote the intercourse of folk with folk. The 
Cyclades pass imperceptibly into the isles which the Asiatic coast 
throws out, and there is formed a sort of island bridge, inviting 
ships to pass from Greece to Asia. The western coast of Asia 
Minor belongs, in truth, more naturally to Europe than to its own 
continent ; it soon became part of the Greek world ; and the ^Egean 
might be considered then as the true center of Greece. 

The west side of Greece, too, was well furnished with good har- 
bors. It was no long voyage from Corcyra to the heel of Italy, 
and the inhabitants of western Greece had a whole world open to 
their enterprise. But that world was barbarous in early times 
and had no civilizing gifts to offer ; whereas the peoples of the 
eastern seaboard looked toward Asia and were drawn into contact 
with the immemorial civilizations of the Orient. The backward 
condition of western as contrasted with eastern Greece in early 
ages did not depend on the conformation of the coast, but on the 
fact that it faced away from Asia; and in later days we find the 
Ionian Sea a busy scene of commerce and lined with prosperous 
communities which are fully abreast of Greek civilization. 

2. The Divisions of Greece. — The important geographical 
features and noted places in the peninsula of Greece may be con- 
veniently considered in three main divisions: (1) Northern 



THE DIVISIONS OF GREECE . 3 

Greece; (2) Central Greece; (3) Southern Greece, "the island 
of Pelops," or the Peloponnesus. 

(1) Northern Greece contains the two large districts of Epirus 
and Thessaly which are separated from Macedonia by the Cam- 
bunian Mountains. Epirus, on the west coast, is a mountainous 
district, its people are rude and backward, and it has contributed 
little to influence Greek history. Almost in the center is Dodona-, 
one of the oldest and most revered shrines in Greece. Across the 
Pindus range lies Thessaly, a great fertile plain, drained by the 
river Peneus which forces its way through the Vale of Tempe. 
To the north are the Cambunian Mountains from which rises 
Olympus, the loftiest peak in Greece on whose snow-capped heights 
the gods were supposed to dwell. On the east the Magnesian 
range, with the peaks of Ossa and Pelion, runs along the coast. 

(2) Central Greece contains many small states. To the west are 
the rude mountainous districts of Acarnania and /Etolia. Nearly 
in the center, lies Phocis, famous for Mount Parnassus, the home 
of the Muses, and for Delphi, the most important oracle in Greece. 
To the east is Bceotia, a fertile plain, with the long river Cephissus 
flowing into Copais, the one large lake in Greece. In Bceotia are 
situated Orchomenus, one of the seats of the most ancient civiliza- 
tion, and Thebes, its great rival. Still farther to the east and 
separated from Bceotia by the Cithaeron range, the peninsula of 
Attica projects into the ^Egean. The chief city, Athens, situated 
on the Acropolis, at an early date asserted its supremacy over 
the entire district. On the Isthmus of Corinth, which connects 
central with southern Greece, are the two small states of Megaris 
and Corinthia. 

(3) The Peloponnesus contains six divisions of varying size and 
importance. On the northeast, joined with Corinthia, is Argolis, 
in whose plain lie the ruins of the ancient cities of Mycenae and 
Tiryns; and where is situated the city of Argos, the early rival of 
Sparta. To the south is the district of Laconia whose fertile valley 
between the Parnon and Taygetus mountains, is drained by the 



INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY ON HISTORY 5 

river Eurotus, on whose banks is situated the city of Sparta. West 
of Laconia is Messenia, which was subjected to Sparta at an early- 
date. To the north lies the great inland state of Arcadia, whose 
lofty valleys are surrounded by still loftier mountains. To the 
extreme northwest is Elis, a harborless stretch of coast through 
which flows the Alpheus, one of the longest rivers of Greece. Here 
is situated Olympia, where every four years were celebrated games 
in honor of Zeus. Along the northern coast of the Peloponnesus 
fronting on the Corinthian Gulf lies Achaea. 




THE PELOPONNESSUS 

SCALE OF MILES 

1 

10 20 30 40 50 



B0RMAY ENGRAVING CO., N.Y. 



3. Influence of Geography on History. — Greece is thus a land 
of mountains and small valleys ; it has few plains of even moderate 



6 THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

size and no considerable rivers. It is therefore well adapted to 
be a country of separate communities, each protected against its 
neighbors by hilly barriers; and the history of the Greeks is a story 
of small independent states. The political history of all countries 
is in some measure under the influence of geography; but in 
Greece geography made itself preeminently felt, and fought along 
with other forces against the accomplishment of national unity. 
The islands formed states by themselves; but as seas, while like 
mountains they sever, may also, unlike mountains, unite, it was 
less difficult to form a sea than a land empire. In the same way, 
the hills prevented the development of a brisk land traffic, while, 
as we have seen, the broken character of the coast and the multi- 
tude of islands facilitated intercourse by water. 

There is no barrier to break the winds which sweep over the 
Euxine toward the Greek shores. Hence the Greek climate has 
a certain severity and bracing quality, which promoted the vigor 
and energy of the people. Again, Greece is by no means a rich 
and fruitful country. It has few well-watered plains of large size ; 
the cultivated valleys do not yield the due crop to be expected 
from the area; the soil is good for barley, but not rich enough 
for wheat to grow freely. Thus though the tillers of the earth had 
hard work, the nature of the land tended to promote maritime 
enterprise. On one hand, richer lands beyond the seas attracted 
the adventurous, especially when the growth of the population 
began to press on the means of support. On the other hand, it 
ultimately became necessary to supplement home-grown corn by 
wheat imported from abroad. But if Demeter denied her highest 
favors, the vine and the olive grew abundantly in most parts of 
the country, and their cultivation was one of the chief features of 
ancient Greece. 

4. Remains of JEgean. Civilization. — It is in the lands of 
Thessaly and Epirus that we first dimly descry the Greeks busy at 
their destined task of creating and shaping the thought and 
civilization of Europe. The oldest known sanctuary of Zeus, their 



REMAINS OF ^GEAN CIVILIZATION 



supreme god, is the oakwood of Dodona in Epirus. But it was 
specially in Thessaly, where the first Greek settlers were the 
Achaeans, that this race, living on the plains of Argos and the 
mountains round about it, fashioned legends which were to sink 
deep into the imagination of Europe. Here they peopled Olympus, 
in whose shadow they dwelled, with divine inhabitants, so that it 
has become forever the heavenly hill in the tongues of men. 
And here, also, they composed lays in the hexameter verse, that mar- 
vellous meter which is probably of their invention. But the 
Achaeans were immigrants in Thessaly, having come from another 
home in the mountains of Illyria, and their descendants migrated 
again, before the art of the hexameter was perfected in those lays 
sung at the banquets of their nobles, which give us in the Homeric 
literature our earliest picture of those ancient Aryan institutions 
which are common to ourselves and to the Greeks. 

Moreover, when the Greek migrants came to the shores of the 
^Egean, they found there a white race more advanced in civiliza- 
tion than themselves. This ^Egean race, as it may be called, which, 
like the Ligurians in Italy or the Iberians in Spain, preceded the 
Aryan conqueror, was a race of traders, having intercourse with 
many lands. We have lately come to know a good deal of its life, 
from the remains of its civilization, discovered at Troy and in the 
islands of Amorgos and Melos, and in Crete. 

(i) Crete. — At the time when the kings of 
the Twelfth Dynasty were reigning in Egypt, 
Crete was a land of flourishing communities, 
and was about to become, if it had not already 
become, a considerable sea power. It is prob- 
able that Cnossus was one of the strongest and 
richest settlements in Crete at the beginning cf 
the second millennium. The remains of the 
palace, which in subsequent ages was trans- 
formed into a grander and more luxurious 
abode, have recently been dug out of the earth; and its stones, on 




Coin of Cnossus, 
Early(Obvekse). 
Minotaur [Le- 
gend : KN02] 



2778-2565, 

B.C.(?) 



8 THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

which the emblem of a double axe is inscribed, declare that the 
kings who dwelled therein were devoted to the worship of a great 
deity whose symbol was the double axe or labrys. It was from 
this god of the labrys that the Labyrinth of Cretan legend derived 
its name; and it seems probable that this palace on the hill of 
Cnossus was the original Labyrinth, afterward converted by myth 
into the Daedalean maze which sheltered the Minotaur. 

The palace is unprotected by the massive walls, which charac- 
terize the ruins of this age, thus showing that its lords were sea- 
kings, depending for their strength upon their ships. The royal 
wealth was secured in a series of storerooms built side by side; 
stone chests for treasure and large jars for storage have been found 
in abundance. And the kings kept accurate record and account 
of their possessions, for the art of writing was perfectly familiar 
in Crete in the days when she played the greatest part she was ever 
destined to play in the history of the world. Hundreds of written 
documents have been found in the Cnossian palace. The writing 
material was small tablets of clay, which were preserved in wooden 
boxes secured by seals. The writing, which is of linear character, 
cannot be read; but it has been made out that about seventy 
signs were in common use. 
2000-1000 (2) Tiryns and Mycence. — Tiryns stands on a long, low rock 

about a mile and a half from the sea, and the land around it was 
once a marsh. From north to south the hill rises in height; it 
was shaped by man's hand into three platforms, of which the 
southern and highest was occupied by the palace of the king. But 
the whole acropolis was strongly walled round by a structure of 
massive stones, laid in regular layers but rudely dressed, the crevices 
being filled with a mortar of clay. This fashion of building has 
been called Cyclopean from the legend that masons called Cyclopes 
were invited from Lycia to build the walls of Tiryns. 

The stronghold of Mycenae, about twelve miles inland, at the 
northeastern end of the Argive plain, was built on a hill which 
rises to nine hundred feet above the sea-level. The shape of 



B.C. 



10 THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

the citadel is a triangle, and the greater part of the wall is 
built in the same " Cyclopean " style as the wall of Tiryns, 
but of smaller stones. Another fashion of architecture, however, 
also occurs, and points to a later date than Tiryns. The gates and 
some of the towers are built of even layers of stones carefully 
hewn into rectangular shape. On the northeast side, a vaulted 
stone passage in the wall led by a subterranean path to the 
foot of the hill, where a cistern was supplied from a perennial 
spring outside the walls. Thus the garrison was furnished with 
water in case of a siege. Mycenae had two gates. The lintel of 
the chief doorway is formed by one huge square block of stone, 
and the weight of the wall resting on it is lightened by the device 
of leaving a triangular space. This opening is filled by a sculp- 
tured stone relief representing two lionesses standing opposite 
each other on either side of a pillar, on whose pedestal their fore- 
paws rest. They are, as it were, watchers who ward the castle, 
and from them the gate is known as the Lion gate. 

The ruins on the hill of Tiryns enable us to trace the plan of the 
palace of its kings. One chief principle of the construction of the 
palaces of this age seems to have been the separation of the dwel- 
ling-house of the women from that of the men, — a principle 
which continued to prevail in Greek domestic architecture in his- 
torical times. The halls of king and queen alike are built on the 
same general plan as the palace in the old brick city on the hill of 
Troy and the palaces which are described in the poems of Homer. 
An altar stood in the men's courtyard (avXrj), which was enclosed by 
pillared porticoes ; the portico (aWovaa) which faced the gate being 
the vestibule of the house. Double-leafed doors opened from the 
vestibule into a preliminary hall (7r/ooSo/>tos), from which one passed 
through a curtained doorway over a great stone threshold (AaiVo? 
orSo?) into the men's hall (fxiyapov). In the midst of it was the 
round hearth — the center of the house — encircled by four wooden 
pillars which supported the flat roof. The palace of Mycenae 
crowned the highest part of the hill, and its plan was, in general 



REMAINS OF ^GEAN CIVILIZATION II 

conception and in many details, like that of Tiryns. It was cus- 
tomary to embellish the walls by inlet sculptured friezes and by 
paintings. A brilliant alabaster frieze, inset with cyanus or paste 
of blue glass, decorated the vestibule of the hall at Tiryns, and 
the men's halls in both palaces were adorned with mural pictures. 

Besides their castle and palace, the burying-places of the kings 
of Mycenae are their most striking memorials. Close to the western 
wall, south of the Lion gate, the royal burial circle has been dis- 
covered, within which six tombs cut vertically into the rock had 
remained untouched by the hand of man since the last corpses 
were placed in them. Weapons were buried with the men, some 
of whose faces were covered with gold masks. The heads of the 
women were decked with gold diadems ; rich ornaments and things 
of household use were placed beside them. But a day came 
when this simple kind of grave was no longer royal enough for the 
rich princes of Mycenae, and they sought more imposing resting- 
places; or else, as some believe, they were overthrown by lords of 
another race, who brought with them a new fashion of sepulcher. 
Nine sepulchral domes, hewn in the opposite hillside, have been 
found not far from the acropolis. The largest of them is generally 
known as the " Treasury of Atreus," a name which rose from a 
false idea as to its purpose. 

But besides the stately burying-places of the kings, the humbler 
tombs of the people have been discovered — square chambers 
cut into the rock. The town of Mycenae below the citadel consisted 
of a group of villages, each of which preserved its separate identity; 
each had its own burying-ground. Thus Mycenae, and probably 
other towns of the age, represented an intermediate stage between 
the village and the city — a number of little communities gathered 
together in one place, and dominated by a fortress. 

We have seen how in the royal graves on the castle hill treasures 
of gold, long hidden from the light of day, revealed the wealth 
of the Mycenaean kingdom. Treasures would perhaps have been 
found also in some of the great vaulted tombs if they had not been 



12 THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

rifled by plunderers in subsequent ages. But for us the works of 
the potter, and the implements of war and peace fashioned by 
the bronze-smith, are of more value than the golden ornaments for 
studying this early civilization ; and things of daily use have been 
found in the lowlier rock-tombs as well as in the royal sepulchers 
of hill or plain. From the implements which the people used, and 
also from the representations which artists wrought, we can win 
a rough picture of their dress, armor, and ornaments, and form 
an idea of their capacity in art. 

(3) Attica and Bceotia. — In Attica there are many relics. On 
the Athenian Acropolis there are a few stones supposed to belong 
to a palace of great antiquity, but we can look with more certainty 
on some of the ancient foundations of the fortress wall. This wall 
was called Pelargic or Pelasgic by the Athenians; and it seems 
likely that the word preserves the name of the ancient inhabitants 
of the place, the Pelasgoi. 

In Bceotia there are striking memorials. On the western 
shores of the great Copaic marsh a people dwelled, whose wealth 
was proverbial; and their city Orchomenus shared with Mycenae 
the attribute of " golden " in the Homeric poems. One of their 
kings built a great sepulchral vault under the hill of the citadel, 
and later generations took it for a treasury It approached, 
though it did not quite attain to the size of the Treasure-house of 
Atreus itself. 

(4) Troy. — Modern research on the hill of Hissarlik, in the 
northwest corner of Asia Minor, shows that in an earlier period 
a great city flourished on the hill of Troy. It was built of sun- 
baked brick, and stood on the ruins of an older city built of stone. 
The brick city had three gates, and towers protected the angles of 
its walls. Its inhabitants belonged to the stone and copper age; 
bronze was still a rarity with them. But the palace, which can 
be traced, shows the same general ground-plan of a house as that 
which is described perhaps fifteen hundred years later in the poems 
of Homer. From an outer gate we pass through a courtyard, in 



REMAINS OF ^GEAN CIVILIZATION 



13 



which an altar stood, into a square preliminary chamber; and from 
it we enter the great hall, in the center of which was the hearth. 
Long before the Greeks came, the iEgean race were building such 
houses as Homer tells of. 

The great brick city was destroyed by fire, probably about 2000 
B.C.; and three other cities were reared and perished on that 
same site. Civilization progressed; bronze superseded stone 




Troy, Sixth City (view from East Tower). Prehistoric Wall on 
the Left (Roman Foundations on Right) 

tools, as tin was brought in more abundance from the west. The 
new Troy, through whose glory the name of the spot was to become 
a household word forever throughout all European lands, was 
built on the levelled ruins of the older towns. The circuit of the 
new city was far wider, and within a great wall of well-wrought 
stone, the citadel rose, terrace upon terrace, to a highest point. On 
that commanding summit, as at Mycenae, we must presume that 



The sixth 
(Homeric) 
city of Troy, 
1600-1100 
B.C. 



14 THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

the king's palace stood. The houses of which the foundations have 
been disclosed within the walls have the same simple plan that we 
saw in the older brick city and in the palaces of Mycenae and 
Tiryns. The wall was pierced by three or four gates, the chief 
gate being on the southeast side, guarded by a flanking tower. 
The builders were more skilful than the masons of the ruder walls 
of the fortresses of Argolis ; and it is a question whether we are to 
infer that the foundation of Troy belongs to a later age, or that 
from the beginning the art of building was more advanced among 
the Trojans. But if Troy shows superior excellence in military 
masonry, its civilization in other ways seems to have been simpler 
than that of the Argive plain. It imported, indeed, the glazed 
Mycenaean wares, and was in contact with ^Egean civilization. 
But Troy stands, in a measure, apart from the "Mycenaean" 
world — beside it, in contact with it, yet not quite of it. This 
was natural; for in speech and race the Trojans stood apart. We 
know with full certainty who the people of Troy were ; we know 
that they were a Phrygian folk and spoke a tongue akin to our own. 

(5) JEgean Civilization. — The civilization of the men whose 
monuments we have been considering belonged to the age of bronze 
and copper. Even in its later period, iron was still so rare and costly 
that it was used only for ornaments — rings, for instance, and 
possibly for money. The arms with which the men of Mycenae 
attacked their foes were sword, spear, and bow. Their defensive 
armor consisted of huge helmets, probably made of leather; shields 
of ox-hide reaching from the neck almost to the feet — complete 
towers of defence, but so clumsy that it was the chief part of a 
military education to manage them. The princes went forth 
to war in two-horsed war-chariots, which consisted of a board 
to stand on and a breastwork of wicker. The fragment of a silver 
vessel (found in one of the rock-tombs of Mycenae) shows us a 
scene of battle in front of the walls of a mountain city, from whose 
battlements women, watching the fight, are waving their hands. 

Men wore long hair, not, however, flowing freely, but tied or 



REMAINS OF ^EGEAN CIVILIZATION 



15 



plaited in tresses. In old times they let the beard grow both on 
lip and chin; but the fashion changed, and in the later period, 
as we see from their pictures, they shaved the upper lip. 
Razors have been found in the tombs. Their garments were sim- 
ple, a loin apron and a cloak fastened by a clasp-pin; in later 
times, a close-fitting tunic. High-born dames wore tight bodices 
and wide gown-skirts. Frontlets or bands round the brow were 




Siege Scene on a Silver Vessel; 8-shaped Shield above in Left 

Corner (Mycenae) 

a distinction of their attire, and they wore their hair elaborately 
curled, or coiled high in rings, letting the ends fall behind. The 
ornaments which have been found in the royal tombs of Mycenae 
show that its queens appeared in glittering gold array. 
The remains at Mycenae, Tiryns, and Cnossus are, taken in their 




1 6 THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

entirety, the most impressive of the memorials of a widespread 
JEge&n civilization. In the Peloponnesus, nowhere except at Tiryns 
and Mycenae have great fortresses or palaces been found; but 

some large vaulted hill-tombs, on the 
same plan as those of the Argive plain, 
mark the existence of ancient princi- 
palities. The lords of Amyclae, which 
was the queen of the Laconian vale 
before the rise of Greek Sparta, hol- 
lowed out for themselves a lordly 
Gem showing Female , , . , ,., ,-, m r 

dress (Mycen^an) tomb ' whlch > unllke the Treasury of 

Atreus, was never invaded by robbers. 

In this vault, among other costly treasures, were found the most 
precious of all the works of Mycenaean art that have yet been 
drawn forth from the earth : two golden cups on which a metal- 
worker of matchless skill has wrought vivid scenes of the snaring 
and capturing of wild bulls. 

5. Inferences from the Relics of JEgean Civilization. — Hav- 
ing taken a brief survey of the character and range of the "Myce- 
naean civilization," we come to inquire whether any evidence exists, 
amid these chronicles of stone and clay, of gold and bronze, for de- 
termining the periods of its rise, bloom, and fall. In the first place, 
it belongs to the age of bronze; the iron age had not begun. Iron 
was still a rare and precious metal in the later part of the period ; 
it was used for rings, but not yet for weapons. The iron age can 
hardly have commenced in Greece long before the tenth century; 
and if we set the beginning of the bronze age at about 2000 B.C., 
we get roughly the second millennium as a delimitation of the 
period within which " Mycenaean" culture flourished and de- 
clined. 

The art of writing was known to the Cretans, but we can inter- 
pret neither their signs nor their language. But in Egypt, evidence 
has been discovered which teaches us in what centuries the potters 
of the /Egean made their wares and shipped them to distant shores. 



INFERENCES FROM RELICS OF AEGEAN CIVILIZATION 1 7 

In the sixteenth century, men of ^Egean type bearing Mycenaean 
vases were represented on a wall-painting at Egyptian Thebes. 
At Gurob, a city which was built in the fifteenth century and 
destroyed two or three hundred years later, a number of " false- 
necked " jars imported from the ^Egean have been found; and 
they belong not to the earlier, but to the later, period of Mycenaean 
pottery. 

But Egyptian evidence is found not only on Egyptian soil, but 
on both sides of the ^Egean. Three pieces of porcelain, one in- 
scribed with the name, the two others with the " cartouche," 
of Amenhotep III. of Egypt (before 1400 b.c), and a scarab with 
the name of his wife, have been found in the chamber-tombs of 
Mycenae; and a scarab of the same Amenhotep was discovered 
in the burying-place of Ialysus in Rhodes. It would follow that 
in the fifteenth century, at latest, the period of the chamber-tombs 
and the vaulted tombs began. 

The joint witness of these and other independent pieces of evi- 
dence proves that the civilization of which Mycenae and Cnossus 
were principal centers was flourishing from the sixteenth to the 
thirteenth century. 

Such was the world which the Greeks had come to share, and 
soon to transform, on the borders of the ^Egean Sea. It was a 
world created by folk who belonged to the European race which 
had been from of old in possession of this corner of the earth. 
Greek civilization, it is well to repeat, was simply a continuation 
and supreme development of that more primitive civilization of 
which we caught glimpses before the bronze age began. There 
is no reason to suppose that these peoples were designated by any 
common name; there were, doubtless, many different peoples 
with different names which are unknown to us. We know that 
there were Pelasgians inThessaly and in Attica; tradition suggests 
that the Arcadians were Pelasgians, too. But it is probable that 
all these peoples, both on the mainland of Greece and in the 
^Egean islands, belonged to the same non-Aryan race, — a dark- 
c 



i8 



THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 



haired stock, — which also included the Mysians, the Lydians, 
the Carians, perhaps the Leleges, on the coast of Asia Minor. 

There seems little doubt that this prehistoric /Egean world was 
composed of many small states. Of the relation of these states 

to one another, of the polit- 
ical events of the period, 
we know almost nothing; 
but the eminent position 
of " golden " Mycenae her- 
self seems to be estab- 
lished. Her comparative 
wealth is indicated by the 
treasures of her tombs, 
which exceed all treasures 
found elsewhere in the 
i^gean. But her lords 
were not only rich ; their 
power stretched beyond 
their immediate territory. 
This fact may be inferred 
from the road system which 
connected Mycenae with 
Corinth, and must have 
been constructed by one of 
her kings. Three narrow 
but stoutly built highways 
have been traced, the two 
western joining at Cleonae, 
the eastern going byTenea. 
They rest on substructions of "Cyclopean" masonry; streams 
are bridged and rocks are hewn through; and as they were not 
wide enough for wagons, the wares of Mycenae were probably 
carried to the Isthmus on the backs of mules. 
There was an active sea-trade in the JLgean — a sea-trade 




(CHonikal?^ 
^JUa*i^V>yj*rgOS/.;.-:::.-::-. 



% (Cheli) 
UU( HXAION 




ENGLISH MILES 






The Argive Plain 



INFERENCES FROM RELICS OF ^GEAN CIVILIZATION 19 

which reached to the Troad and to Egypt ; but there is no proof 
that Mycenae was a naval power. Everything points to Crete as 
the queen of the seas in this age, and to Cretan merchants as the 
carriers of the ^Egean world. The predominance of Crete sur- 
vived in the memories of Minos, whom tradition exalted as a mighty 
sea-king who cleared the ^Egean of pirates and founded a mari- 
time power. 




Painted Tombstone with Warriors (Mycenae, Lower Town) 

The discoveries made by excavation on the hill of Cnossus 
show that this tradition embodied historical fact. The remains 
of the great palace testify, as we have seen, to a dynasty, lasting 
for two hundred years, of rich sea-kings. That period of Cnossian 
power had begun by the commencement of the fifteenth, and 
endured into the thirteenth century, though perhaps hardly be- 
yond. It seems at least probable that the destruction of Cnossus 
occurred before the destruction of Mycenae. 



20 THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION 

Of the power and resources of the ^Egean states, the monuments 
hardly enable us to form an absolute idea. They were small, as 
we saw; it was an age 

When men might cross a kingdom in a day. 

The kings had slaves to toil for them; the fortresses and the large 
tombs were assuredly built by the hands of thralls. One fact 
shows in a striking way how small were these kingdoms, and how 
slender their means, compared with the powerful realms of Egypt 
and the Orient. If Babylonian or Egyptian monarchs, with their 
command of slave-labor, had ruled in Greece, they would assuredly 
have cut a canal across the Isthmus and promoted facilities for 
commerce by joining the eastern with the western sea. 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 1 73-74) 

1. Geographical Features. 

Tozer, A. M., Classical Geography, 63-92. Holm, A., History of 
Greece, I, ii. Curtius, E., History of Greece, I, ii. 

2. The People. 

Bury, J. B., History of Greece, 6-39. Mahaffy, J. P., Survey of Greek 
Civilization, 22-40. Gardner, P., New Chapters in Greek History, 
iv. 
Sources. Herodotus, I, chs. 56, 57, 146. 

1 A History Syllabus for Secondary Schools prepared by a Special Committee 
of the New England History Teachers' Association. D. C. Heath & Co. Boston, 
1904. This syllabus contains a good analysis and a list of topics. 



CHAPTER II 

THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

i. The Greek Conquest. — It must not be supposed that the 
non-Aryan ^Egean population was either exterminated or wholly 
enthralled by the Aryan Greek invaders. In the first place, the 
invaders were not wholly Aryan, though they had men of Aryan 
blood among them, from whom they had taken their institutions, 
some of their gods, and their tongue. They were all men of Aryan 
speech, not all of Aryan stock. Secondly, though the older tongues 
disappeared entirely, that is due to the character of the Greek 
language, which, as later history shows, was vigorous and master- 
ful. Wherever the Greeks settled, it became the language of the 
land. And so, in Greece itself, sometimes the Greeks came in as 
conquerors, predominant both in numbers and power, sometimes 
merely as settlers; but everywhere the country was Graecized. 
In Attica and Arcadia, for example, there was little disturbance 
of the original inhabitants, and tradition preserved the fact in 
various myths pointing to the antiquity of the two races (avroxOoves). 

Thus what took place was not a single irruption, but a gradual 
infiltration of a new stock into an older one, carrying the intro- 
duction of a new language. By some cause the Greeks were being 
pressed southward from their home in the northwest of the Balkan 
peninsula ; while at the same time — perhaps from a kindred 
reason — the Phrygians and Trojans, who dwelt in western Mace- 
donia and southern Thrace, were moving eastward and across the 
straits into Asia Minor. And this process, so far as the Greeks 
were concerned, extended on over centuries. The northwestern 
lands of Epirus, Acarnania, and ^Etolia were certainly lands of 

21 



22 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

Greek speech many years before the conquest of the Peloponnesus. 
But it need not be supposed that northern Greece was completely 
overspread by the Greeks before they began to pass into the south- 
ern peninsula. The first Greek settlers of the Peloponnesus must 
have crossed by boat from the northwest shore of the Corinthian 
Gulf; and the countries afterward called Achaea, Elis, andMes- 
senia, together with the Arcadian highlands, had at least begun to 
be hellenized sooner than Laconia and Argolis. The Greeks 
reached Argolis from the eastern side. From Thessaly the new 
people spread southward along the eastern coast to Eubcea, and 
the shores of Attica, to the Cyclad islands, and lastly to Argolis. 
Other settlers penetrated into the fertile mountain-girt country 
afterward to be called Bceotia. Some of these were perhaps the 
Minyae, who inhabited Orchomenus in the heroic age, though 
again this may have been the name of the natives whom the Greeks 
hellenized. In Attica some of the settlements seem to have been 
made by a tribe called Iavones or Ionians, and these settled in 
Argolis also. 

All this was a long and gradual process. It needed many years 
for the Greeks to blend with the older inhabitants and hellenize 
the countries in which they settled. In eastern Greece, where the 
JEgeari civilization nourished, the influence was reciprocal. While 
the Greeks gradually imposed their language on the native races, 
they learned from a civilization which was more advanced than 
their own. Things shaped themselves differently in different places, 
according to the number of the Greek settlers and the power and 
culture of the native people. In some countries, as seemingly 
in Attica, a small number of Greek strangers leavened the whole 
population and spread the Greek tongue; thus Attica became 
Greek, but the greater part of its inhabitants were sprung, not from 
Greeks, but from the old people who lived there before the Greeks 
came. In other countries the invaders came in larger numbers, 
and the inhabitants were forced to make way for them. We 
may say, at all events, that there was a time for most lands in Greece 



EXPANSION OF THE GREEKS TO EASTERN ^EGEAN 23 

when the Greek strangers and the native people lived side by side, 
speaking each their own tongue and exercising a mutual influence 
which was to end in the fusion of blood, out of which the Greeks 
of history sprang. 

No reasonable system of chronology can avoid the conclusion 
that Greeks had already begun to settle in the area of ^Sgean 
civilization, when the JEgesai civilization of the bronze age was at 1500-1000 
its height. Coming by driblets, they fell under its influence in B,c " 
a way which could not have been the case if they had swept down 
in mighty hordes, conquered the land by a few swoops, and de- 
stroyed or enslaved its peoples. It is another question how far the 
process of assimilation had already advanced when the lords of 
Mycenae and.Orchomenus and the other royal strongholds built 
their hill-tombs ; and it is yet another whether any of these lords 
belonged to the race of the Greek strangers. To these questions 
we can give no positive answers ; but this much we know : in the 
twelfth century, if not sooner, the Greeks began to expand in a 
new direction, eastward beyond the sea; and they bore with 
them to the coast of Asia the iEgean civilization. That civiliza- 
tion is what we find described in pictures of the heroic age 
of Greece. 

2. Expansion of the Greeks to the Eastern jEgean. — (1) 
sEolians. — The first Greeks who sailed across the i^Egean .were the 
Achaeans and their fellows from the hills and plains of Thessaly 
and the plain of the Spercheus. Along with the Achaeans there 
sailed as comrades and allies the Cohans. It was to the northern 
part of Asia Minor, the island of Lesbos and the opposite shores, 
that the Achaean and JEolisui adventurers steered their ships, and 
here they planted the first Hellenic settlements on Asiatic soil. 
The coast-lands of western Asia Minor are, like Greece itself, 
suitable for the habitations of a seafaring people. A series of 
river-valleys are divided by mountain chains which run out into 
promontories so as to form deep bays; and the promontories are 
continued in islands. The Greek invaders won the coast-lands 



24 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

from the Mysian natives, and seized a number of strong places 
which they could defend, — such as Cyme, ^Egae, Old Smyrna. 
They pressed up the rivers, and on the Hermus they founded 
Magnesia under Mount Sipylus. 

The Greeks made no settlement in the Troad. But in occupying 
the country south of the Troad, they came into collision with the 
great Phrygian town of Troy, or Ilios, as it was called from King 
Ilos, who perhaps was its founder. There were weary wars. 
Then the mighty fortress fell; and we need not doubt the truth of 
the legend which records that it fell through Grecian craft or 
valor. The Phrygian power and the lofty stronghold of " sacred 
Ilios " made a deep impression on the souls of the Greek invaders; 
and the strife, on whatever scale it really was, blended by their 
imagination with the old legends of their gods, inspired the Achaean 
minstrels with new songs. Through their minstrelsy the struggle 
between the Phrygians and the Greek settlers assumed the pro- 
portion of a common expedition of all the peoples of Greece against 
the town of Troy; and the Trojan war established itself in the 
belief of the Greeks as the first great episode in the everlasting 
debate between east and west. 

It is to be observed that the Greeks and Phrygians in that age 
do not seem to have felt that they were severed by any great con- 
trast of race or manners. They were conscious, perhaps, of an 
affinity in language; and they had the same kind of civilization. 
This fact comes out in the Homeric poems, where, though some 
specially Phrygian features are recognized, the Trojans might be 
a Greek folk and their heroes have Greek names ; 1 and it bears 
witness to the constant intercourse between the Achaean colonists 
and their Phrygian neighbors. 

(2) Ionians. — The Achaean wave of emigration was succeeded 
by an Ionian wave, flowing mainly from the coasts of Attica and 
Argolis, and new settlements were planted, south of the elder 
Achaean settlements. The two-pronged, peninsula between the 

1 Paris (Phrygian) = Alexander (Greek) is an instance of a double name. 



EXPANSION OF THE GREEKS TO EASTERN ^GEAN 25 

Hermus and Cayster rivers, with the off-lying isle of Chios, the 
valleys of the Cayster and Maeander, with Samos and the peninsula 
south of Mount Latmos, were studded with communities which 
came to form a group distinct from the older group in the north. 
Of the foundation of the famous colonies of Ionia, of the order in 
which they were founded, and of the relations of the settlers with 
the Lydian natives, we know little. Clazomenae and Teos arose on 
the north and south sides of the neck of the peninsula which runs 
out to meet Chios; and Chios, on the east coast of her island, faces 
Erythrae on the mainland — Erythrae, " the crimson," so called 
from its purple fisheries, the resort of Tyrian traders. Lebedus 
and Colophon lie on the coast as it retires eastward from Teos to 
reach the mouth of the Cayster; and there was founded Ephesus, 
the city of Artemis. South of Ephesus and on the northern 
slope of Mount Mycale was the religious gathering-place of the 
Ionians, the temple of the Heliconian Poseidon, which, when 
once the Ionians became conscious of themselves as a sort of 
nation and learned to glory in their common name, served to fos- 
ter a sense of unity among all their cities, from Phocaea in the north 
to Miletus in the south. There was one great inland city, Mag- 
nesia on the Maeander, which must not be confused with the inland 
iEolian city, Magnesia on the Hermus. 

The Greek settlers brought with them their poetry and their 
civilization to the shores of Asia. Their civilization is revealed to 
us in their poetry, and we find that it resembles in its main features 
the civilization which has been laid bare in the ruins of Mycenae 
and other places in elder Greece. The Homeric poems show us, 
in fact, a later stage of the civilization of the heroic age. The 
Homeric palace is built on the same general plan as the palaces 
that have been found at Mycenae and Tiryns, at Troy, and in the 
Copaic Lake. The blue inlaid frieze in the vestibule of the hall of 
Tiryns proves that the poet's frieze of cyanus in the hall of Alcinous 
was not a fancy; and he describes as the cup of Nestor a gold cup 
with doves perched on the handles, such as one which was found 



26 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

in a royal tomb at Mycenae. There is, indeed, one striking differ- 
ence in custom. The Mycenaean tombs reveal no trace of the habit 
of burning the dead, which the Homeric Greeks invariably prac- 
ticed; while the poems ignore the practice of burial. In later 
times both customs existed in Greece side by side. 




Gold Cup, with Doves (Mycenae) 

It follows, first, that by the twelfth century the Greeks had 
assimilated the civilization of the iEgean. Secondly, that what- 
ever fate befell the Mycenaean civilization in the mother-country, it 
continued without a break in the new Greece beyond the seas, 
and developed into that luxurious Ionian civilization which meets 






THE LATER WAVE OF GREEK INVASION 2J 

us some centuries later. New elements were added in the mean- 
time; intercourse with Phrygia and Syria, for example, brought 
new influences to bear; but the permanent framework was the 
heritage from the ancient folk of the ^Egean. 

3. The Later Wave of Greek Invasion. — The colonization of 
the Asiatic coasts and islands extended over some hundreds of 
years, and it was doubtless accelerated and promoted at certain 
stages of its progress by the changes which were happening in 
the mother-country. The ultimate cause of these movements, 
which affected almost the whole of Greece from north to south, 
was probably the pressure of the Illyrians. 

(1) JEtolia. — This downward pressure was fatal to ^Etolia. 
In the Homeric poems we see that "Pleuron by the sea and rocky 
Calydon " and the other strong cities of that region were abreast 
of the civilization of the heroic age. But in the later ages of Greek 
history, we find ^Etolia regarded as a half -barbarous country, the 
abode of men who spoke, indeed, a Greek tongue, but had lagged 
ages and ages behind the rest of Greece in science and civilization. 
We find the neighboring countries in the same case. Epirus sud- 
denly lapsed into comparative barbarism, and the sanctuary of 
Dodona remained a lonely outpost. The explanation of this 
falling away is the irruption and conquest by Illyrian invaders, who 
swamped Greek civilization instead of assimilating it. 

This invasion naturally drove some of the Greek inhabitants 
across the gulf, and ^tolian emigrants made their way to the river 
Peneus, where they settled, took to themselves the name of Eleans 
or " Dalesmen," and gradually extended their power to the Alpheus. 
Their land was a tract of downs with a harborless coast, and they 
never became a maritime power. 

(2) Thessaly. — In Epirus the pressure of the Illyrians led to 
two movements of great consequence, the Thessalian and the 
Boeotian migration. There is nothing to show decisively that 
these two movements happened at the same time or were connected 
with each other. A folk, called Thessaloi, crossed the hills and 



28 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

settled in the western corner of the land which is bounded by 
Pelion and Pindus. They gained the upper hand and spread 
their sway over northern Argos. They drove the Achaeans south- 
ward into the mountains of Phthia, and henceforward these 
Achaeans play no part of any note in the history of Greece. The 
Thessalian name soon spread over the whole country, which is 
called Thessaly to the present day. Crannon, Pagasae, Larisa, and 
Pherae became the seats of lords who reared horses and governed 
the surrounding districts. The conquered people were reduced 
to serfdom and were known as the Laborers (Penestai) ; they cul- 
tivated the soil, at their own risk, paying a fixed amount to their 
lords; and they had certain privileges; they could not be sold 
abroad or arbitrarily put to death. We know almost nothing of 
the history of the Thessalian kingdoms ; but in later times we find 
them combined in a very loose political organization, which lay 
dormant in times of peace; but through which, to meet any emer- 
gency of war, they could elect a common captain, with the title of 
tdgos. 

(3) Achaa. — But all the folk did not remain to fall under the 
thraldom imposed by the new lords. A portion of the Achaeans 
migrated southward to the Peloponnesus, probably accompanied 
by their neighbors the Hellenes, who lived on the upper waters 
of the river Spercheus. The Achaeans and Hellenes together 
founded settlements along the strip of coast which forms the south- 
ern side of the Corinthian Gulf ; and the whole country was called 
Achaea. Thus there were two Achaean lands, the old Achaea in 
the north, now shrunk into the mountains of Phthia, and the new 
Achaea in the south; while in the land which ought to have been 
the greatest Achaea of all, — the Asiatic land in which the poetry 
of Europe took shape, — the Achaean name was merged in the 
less significant title of /Eolis. 

(4) Bceotia. — The lands of Helicon and Cithaeron experienced 
a similar shock to that which unsettled and changed the lands of 
Olympus and Othrys; they were occupied by the Boeotians. Ac- 



THE DORIAN MIGRATION 29 

cording to the Greek account, the Boeotians lived in Thessaly and 
moved southward in consequence of the Thessalian conquest. 
They first occupied places in the west of the land which they were 
to make their own. From Chaeronea and Coronea they won 
Thebes, which was held by an old folk called the Cadmeans. 
Thence they sought to spread their power over the whole land. 
They spread their name over it, for it was called Bceotia, but they 
did not succeed in winning full domination as rapidly as the Thes- 
salians succeeded in Thessaly. The rich lords of Orchomenus 
preserved their independence for hundreds of years, and it was 
not till the sixth century that anything like a Boeotian unity was 
established. The polity of the Boeotian conquerors, who were 
perhaps comparatively few in number, was unlike that of the 
Thessalians; the conquered communities were not reduced to 
serfdom. 

(5) Phocis and Doris. — West of Bceotia, in the land of the 
Phocians amid the regions of Mount Parnassus, there were changes 
of a less simple kind. Hither came the Dorians, who probably 
belonged to the same " northwestern " group of the Greek race as 
the Thessalians and Boeotians. But the greater part of them soon 
went forth to seek fairer abodes in distant places. Yet a few re- 
mained behind in the small basin-like district between Mount Oeta 
and Mount Parnassus, where they preserved the illustrious Dorian 
name throughout the course of Grecian history, in which they never 
played a part. It would seem that the Dorians also took possession 
of Delphi, the " rocky threshold " of Apollo, and planted some 
families there who devoted themselves to the service of the 
god. 

4. The Dorian Migration. — The departure of the Dorians 
from the regions of Parnassus was probably gradual, and it was 
accomplished by sea. They built ships — perhaps the name of 
Naupactus, " the place of the ship-building," is a record of their 
ventures; and they sailed round the Peloponnesus to the south- 
eastern parts of Greece. Some sailed to Crete, others to the south- 



30 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

ern coast of Asia Minor, where, though taking little part in the his- 
tory of Hellas, they preserved their Hellenic speech. 

(i) Laconia. — The next conquests of the Dorians were in the 
Peloponnesus. There were three distinct conquests — the con- 
quest of Laconia, the conquest of Argolis, the conquest of Corinth. 
The Dorians took possession of the rich vale of the Eurotas, over- 
threw the lords of Amyclae, and, keeping their own Dorian stock 
pure from the mixture of alien blood, reduced all the inhabitants 
to the condition of subjects. It seems probable that the Dorian 
invaders who subdued Laconia were more numerous than the 
Dorian invaders elsewhere. The eminent quality which distin- 
guished the Dorian from other branches of the Greek race was 
that which we call" character "; and it was in Laconia that this 
quality most fully displayed and developed itself, for here the Dorian 
seems to have remained more purely Dorian. 

(2) Argolis. — In Argolis the course of things ran otherwise. 
The invaders, who landed under a king named Temenos, had doubt- 
less a hard fight; but their conquest took the shape, not of subjec- 
tion, but of amalgamation. It is to the time of this conquest that 
the overthrow of Mycenae may best be referred; and here, as in 
the case of Amyclae, it seems probable that the old native dynasty 
had already given place to Greek lords. Certain is it that both 
Mycenae and Tiryns were destroyed suddenly and set on fire. 
Henceforward Argos under her lofty citadel was to be queen of 
the Argive plain. 

(3) Corinth. — Dorian ships were also rowed up the Saronic 
Gulf. It was the adventure of a prince whom the legend calls 
Errant, the son of Rider ('AXr/r^s, son of 'l-rnroT-qs) . He landed in 
the Isthmus and seized the high hill of Acrocorinth, the key of 
the peninsula. This was the making of Corinth. Here, as in 
Argolis, there was no subjection, no distinction between the con- 
querors and the conquered. The geographical position of Cor- 
inth between her seas determined for her people a career of com- 
merce, and her history shows that the Dorians had the qualities 



HOMER 3 I 

of bold and skilful traders. For a time Corinth seems to have 
been dependent on Argos, whose power was predominant in the 
eastern Peloponnesus for more than three hundred years. 

From Argos the Dorians made two important settlements in 
the north, on the river Asopus — Sicyon on its lower, and Phlius 
on its upper, banks. And beyond Mount Geraneia, another Dorian 
city arose, called Megara, " the Palace," on the commanding hill 
which looks down upon the western shore of Salamis. 

The conquest of the eastern Peloponnesus was followed by a 
second Dorian colonization of the Asiatic coast. The bold prom- 
ontories below Miletus, the islands of Cos and Rhodes, were oc- 
cupied by colonists from Argolis, Laconia, Corinth, and Crete. 
On the mainland Halicarnassus was the most important Dorian 
settlement, but it was formed in concert with the Carian natives, 
and was half Carian. 

As for the chronology of all these movements which went to 
the making of historical Greece, we must be content with approxi- 
mate limits: — 

Achaean colonization 

Fall of Cnossus 

Fall of Troy 

Beginnings of Ionian colonization 

Thessalian conquest 

Boeotian conquest 

Dorian conquest of Crete and islands 

Dorian conquest of eastern Peloponnesus 

Colonization of Cyprus . . . .nth century. 

Continuation of Ionian colonization . ioth century. 

Dorian colonization of Asia Minor . . ioth century. 

5. Homer. — No Greek folk has laid Europe under a greater 
debt of gratitude than the Achaeans, for the Achaeans originated 
epic poetry, and the beginning of European literature goes back 
to them. But their European epic was created on Asiatic soil. 
They brought with them to Asia old poetic tales which figured 
the strife of night and day, of winter and summer, and all nature's 



i3th-ioth centuries. 



32 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

great processes. And, stimulated by the toils and adventures 
of settling in a new land, they began to retell these old tales, chang- 
ing them into historical myths. Achilles may be a sea-god, 
Agamemnon (who was worshipped as Zeus Agamemnon at Sparta) 
a god of the sky. Achilles is his foe, as he is also of Memnon, the 
sun-god, whom he slays. But an event of actual history is intro- 
duced as the motive of the wrath of Achilles. He is wroth for the 
sake of Briseis, a Lesbian captive, and the taking of Bresa was an 
actual event. 

When legend and, history began to be blended, the element 
of history triumphed, and the nature-myth dropped out of sight. 
In the early days the Trojan story seems to have ended with the 
death of Hector. The original conception was not the tale of a 
siege which found its consummation in the fall of the fortress; 
the siege was rather the setting for the strife between Agamemnon 
and Achilles, between Achilles and Hector. The story of Troy's 
fall and the wooden horse is a later invention. 

It was, perhaps, in the eleventh century, at Smyrna or some 
other i^olian town, that the nucleus of the Iliad was composed, 
on the basis of those older lays, by a poet whom we may call the 
first Homer, though it is not probable that he was the poet who 
truly bore that name. He sang in the Achaean, or as it came to 
be called the ^Eolian, tongue. His poem was the wrath of Achilles 
and the death of Hector, and it forms only the smaller part of the 
Iliad. It was not till the ninth century that the Iliad really came 
into being. Then a poet of supreme genius arose, and it may 
be that he was the singer whose name was actually Homer. He 
composed his poetry in rugged Chios, and he gives us a local touch 
when he describes the sun as rising over the sea. He took in 
hand the older poem of the wrath of Achilles and expanded it 
into the shape and compass of the greater part of the Iliad. He is 
the poet who created one of the noblest episodes in the whole 
epic, Priam's ransoming of Hector. Tradition made Homer the 
author of both the great epics, the Odyssey as well as the Iliad. 



HOMER 33 

This is not probable. It can hardly have been before the eighth 
century that the old lays of the wandering of Odysseus and the 
slaying of the suitors were taken in hand and wrought into a large 
poem. 

We may suppose, then, that Homer lived at Chios in the ninth 
century, and was the true author of the Iliad. He did not give 
it the exact shape in which it was ultimately transmitted; for it 
received from his successors in the art additions and extensions 
which were not entirely to its advantage. But it was he, to all 
seeming, who first conceived and wrought out the idea of a mighty 
epic. He was no mere stringer together of ancient lays. He took 
the motives, he caught the spirit, of the older poems; he wove 
them into the fabric of his own composition; but he was himself 
as divinely inspired as any of the older minstrels. He was the 
father of epic poetry, in the sense in which we distinguish an epic 
poem with a large argument from a short song. He and his succes- 
sors sang in Ionia, and rewrote the poems in Ionian dialect, though 
sometimes for the sake of meter they were obliged to keep the 
iEolian form. But in rewriting they sought to reproduce, not the 
atmosphere of their own age, but that which was familiar to the 
original writers of the songs. For example, the weapons and gear 
described are those of the bronze age; but now and then a slip 
betrays the later hand. Unwittingly, the poet of the Odyssey 
allows it to escape that he lived in the iron age, for such a proverb 
as " the mere gleam of iron lures a man to strife " could not have 
arisen until iron weapons had been long in use. 

In the course of time the Trojan War began to assume the shape 
of a great national enterprise. All the Greeks looked back to it 
with pride; all desired to have some share in its glory. Conse- 
quently, a great many stories were invented in various communities 
for the purpose of bringing their ancestors into connection with 
the Trojan expedition. And the Iliad was regarded as something 
of far greater significance than an Ionian poem ; it was accepted 
as a national epic, and was, from the first, a powerful influence in 

D 



34 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

promoting among the Greeks community of feeling and tendencies 
toward national unity. For two hundred years after its birth 
the Iliad went on gathering additions ; and the bards were not un- 
ready to make insertions in order to satisfy the pride of the princely 
and noble families at whose courts they sang. Finally, in the 
seventh century, the Catalogue of the Greek host was composed, 
formulating explicitly the Panhellenic character of the expedition 
against Troy. 

The Odyssey, affiliated as it was to the Trojan legend, became 
a national epic, too. And the interest awakened in Greece by the 
idea of the Trojan War was displayed by the composition of a series 
of epic poems, dealing with those events of the siege which hap- 
pened both before and after the events described in the Iliad, and 
with the subsequent history of some of the Greek heroes. These 
poems were anonymous for the most part, and passed under the 
name of Homer. Along with the Iliad and Odyssey, they formed 
a chronological series which came to be known as the Epic Cycle. 

6. Political and Social Organization of the Early Greeks. — The 
Homeric poems give us our earliest glimpse of the working of those 
political institutions which lie at the base of all the constitutions 
of Europe. They show us the King at the head. But he does 
not govern wholly of his own will; he is guided by a Council of 
the chief men of the community whom he consults; and the de- 
cisions of the council and king deliberating together are brought 
before the Assembly of the whole people. Out of these three ele- 
ments — King, Council, and Assembly — the constitutions of 
Europe have grown ; here are the germs of all the various forms of 
monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. 

But in the most ancient times this political organization was 
weak and loose. The true power in primitive society was the 
family. When we first meet the Greeks, they live together in 
family communities. Their villages are habitations of a genos; 
that is, of a clan, or family in a wide sense, — all the members being 
descended from a common ancestor and bound together by the 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF GREEKS 35 

tie of blood. Originally, the chief of the family had the power of 
life and death over those who belonged to the family; and it was 
only as the authority of the state grew and asserted itself against 
the comparative independence of the family, that this power 
gradually passed away. But the village communities were not 
isolated and independent; they were part of a larger community 
which is called the phyle or tribe. The tribe was the whole people 
of the kingdom, in the kingdom's simplest form; and the territory 
which the tribe inhabited was called its t deme (8^/xo?). When a 
king became powerful and won sway over the demes of neighbor- 
ing kings, a community consisting of more than one tribe would 
arise. 

It was usual for several families to group themselves together 
into a society called a phratra or brotherhood, which had certain 
common religious usages. The significance of the brotherhood 
is illustrated by Homer's description of an outcast, as one who has 
no " brothers " and no hearth. 

The importance of the family is most vividly shown in the man- 
ner in which the Greeks possessed the lands which they conquered. 
The soil did not become the private property of individual free- 
men, nor yet the public property of the whole community. The 
king of the tribe or tribes marked out the whole territory into par- 
cels, according to the number of families in the community; and 
the families cast lots for the estates. Each family then possessed 
its own estate; the land belonged to the whole kin, but not to any 
particular member. The right of property in land seems to have 
been based, not on the right of conquest, but on a religious senti- 
ment. Each family buried their dead within their own domain; 
and it was held that the dead possessed forever and ever the soil 
where they lay, and that the land round about a sepulcher belonged 
rightfully to their living kinsfolk, one of whose highest duties was to 
protect and tend the tombs of their fathers. 

The king was at once the chief priest, the chief judge, and the 
supreme leader of the tribe. He belonged to a family which 



36 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

claimed descent from the gods themselves. His relation to his 
people was conceived as that of a protecting deity; " he was 
revered as a god in the deme." The kingship passed from sire to 
son, but it is probable that the people might refuse to accept a 
degenerate son who was unequal to the tasks that his father had 
fulfilled. The sceptered king had various privileges — the seat of 
honor at feasts, a large and choice share of booty taken in war 
and of food offered at sacrifices. A special area of land was 
marked out and set apart for him as a royal domain, distinct from 
that which his family owned. 

A king had no power to enforce his will, if it did not meet the 
approval of the heads of the people. He must always look for 
the consent and seek the opinion of the deliberative Council of 
the Elders. Certain families had come to hold a privileged posi- 
tion above the others — had, in fact, been marked out as noble, 
and claimed descent from Zeus; and the Council was composed 
of this nobility. In the puissant authority of this Council of Elders 
lay the germ of future aristocracy. 

More important than either king or council for the future 
growth of Greece was the gathering of the people, out of which 
democracy was to spring. All the freemen of the tribe — all the 
freemen of the nation, when more tribes had been united — met 
together, not at stated times, but whenever the king summoned 
them, to hear and acclaim what he and his councillors proposed, — ■ 
to hear and acclaim, but not to debate or propose, themselves. 
As yet, the gathering of the folk for purposes of policy had not 
been differentiated from the gathering for the purpose of war. 
The Assembly was not yet distinguished as an institution from 
the army; and if Agamemnon summons his host to declare his 
resolutions in the plain of Troy, such a gathering is the Agora in 
no figurative sense: it is in the fullest sense the Assembly of the 
people. 

Though the monarchy of this primitive form, as we find it re- 
flected in the Homeric lays, generally passed away, and was 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF GREEKS 37 

already passing away when the latest lays were written, it sur- 
vived in a few outlying regions which lagged behind the rest of 
the Hellenic world in political development. Thus the Macedonian 
Greeks in the lower valley of the Axius retained a constitution of 
the old Homeric type till the latest times — the royal power con- 
tinually growing. 

The constitutional fabric of the Greek states was thus simple 
and loose in the days of Homer. In the later part of the royal 
period a new movement was setting in, which was to decide the 
future of Greek history. The city began to emerge and take form 
and shape out of the loose aggregate of villages. The inhabitants of 
a plain or valley were induced to leave their scattered villages and 
make their dwellings side by side in one place, which would gen- 
erally be under the shadow of the king's fortress. Sometimes the 
group of villages would be girt by a wall ; sometimes the protection 
of the castle above would be deemed enough. The movement 
was promoted by the kings; and it is probable that strong kings 
often brought it about by compulsion. But in promoting it they 
were unwittingly undermining the monarchical constitution, and 
paving the way for their own abolition. A city-state naturally 
tends to be a republic. 

In the heroic age, then, and even in the later days when the 
Homeric poems were composed, the state had not fully emerged 
from the society. No laws were enacted and maintained by the 
state. Those ordinances and usages (^c/xto-re?) which guided the 
individual man in his conduct, and which are necessary for the 
preservation of any society, were maintained by the sanction of 
religion. There were certain crimes which the gods punished. 
But it was for the family, not for the whole community, to deal 
with the shedder of blood. The justice which the king adminis- 
tered was really arbitration. A stranger had no right of protec- 
tion, and might be slain in a foreign community, unless he was 
bound by the bond of guest friendship with a member of that 
community, and then he came under the protection of Zeus, the 



38 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

Hospitable (Xenios). Wealth in these ages consisted of herds and 
flocks; the value of a suit of armor, for instance, or a slave was 
expressed in oxen. Piracy was a common trade, as was inevitable 
in a period when there was no organized maritime power strong 
enough to put it down. So many practiced this means of liveli- 
hood that it bore no reproach; and when seamen landed on a 
strange strand, the natural question to ask them was: " Outlanders, 
whence come ye ? are ye robbers that rove the seas ? " 

7. Fall of Greek Monarchies and Rise of the Republics. — Under 
their kings the Greeks had conquered the coasts and islands of the 
yEgean, and had created the city-state. These were the two great 
contributions of monarchy to Grecian history. Throughout the 
greater part of Greece in the eighth century, the monarchies were 
declining and disappearing, and republics were taking their place. 
It is a transformation of which we can only guess at probable 
causes ; but we may be sure that the deepest cause of all was the 
change to city life. In some cases, gross misrule may have led to 
the violent deposition of a king; in other cases, if the succession 
to the scepter devolved upon an infant or a paltry man, the nobles 
may have taken it upon themselves to abolish the monarchy. In 
some cases, the rights of the king might be strictly limited, in con- 
sequence of his seeking to usurp undue authority; and the im- 
position of limitations might go on until the office of king, although 
maintained in name, became in fact a mere magistracy in a 
state wherein the real power had passed elsewhere. Of the sur- 
vival of monarchy in a limited form, we have an example at Sparta; 
of its survival as a mere magistracy, in the Archon Basileas at 
Athens. 

Where the monarchy was abolished, the government passed 
into the hands of those who had done away with it — the noble 
families of the state. When the nobles assume the government 
and become the rulers, an aristocratic republic arises. Sometimes 
the power was won, not by the whole body of the noble clans, but 
by the clan to which the king belonged. This was the case at 



PHCENIC1AN INTERCOURSE WITH GREECE 39 

Corinth, where the royal family of the Bacchiads became an oli- 
garchy of the narrowest form. 

At this stage of society, birth was the best general test of ex- 
cellence that could be found, and the rule of the nobles was a 
true aristocracy, the government of the most excellent. They 
practiced the craft of ruling; they were trained in it, they handed 
it down from father to son ; and though no great men arose, — great 
men are dangerous in an aristocracy, — the government was con- 
ducted with knowledge and skill. Close aristocracies, like the 
Corinthian, were apt to become oppressive. But on the whole the 
Greek republics flourished in the aristocratic stage, and were guided 
with eminent ability. 

The two great achievements of the aristocratic age were the 
planting of Greek cities in lands far beyond the limits of the /Egean 
Sea, and the elaboration of political machinery. The first of these 
was simply the continuation of the expansion of the Greeks around 
the ^Egean itself; it was systematically promoted by the aris- 
tocracies, and it took a systematic shape. The creation of political 
machinery carried on the work of consolidation which the kings 
had begun when they gathered together into cities the loose ele- 
ments of their states. When royalty was abolished or given, as 
it were, to a commission, the ruling families of the republic had 
to substitute magistracies tenable for limited periods, and had to 
determine how the magistrates were to be appointed, how their 
functions were to be circumscribed, how the provinces of authority 
were to be assigned. New machinery had to be created, to re- 
place that one of the three parts of the constitution which had 
disappeared. 

8. Phoenician Intercourse with Greece. — The Greeks were 
destined to become a great seafaring people ; ' but sea-trade was 
a business which it took them many ages to learn. Their occu- 
pation of the islands was accompanied by a decline of the mari- 
time supremacy which the ^gean islanders and especially the 
Cretans enjoyed; and there was a long interval during which the 



40 THE GREEK CONQUEST AND THE HOMERIC AGE 

trade of the /Egean with the east was partly carried on by strangers. 
The men who took advantage of this opening were the Phoenicians 
of the city-states of Sidon and Tyre on the Syrian coast, men of that 
Semitic stock to which Jew, Arab, and Assyrian alike belonged. 
The Phoenicians, doubtless, had marts here and there on coast or 
island ; they certainly had a station at Abdera in Thrace. Their 
ships were ever winding in and out of the ^gean isles from south 
to north, bearing fair naperies from Syria, fine-wrought bowls and 
cups from the workshops of Sidonian and Cypriot silversmiths, 
and all manner of luxuries and ornaments; and this constant 
commercial intercourse, lasting for two centuries, is amply sufficient 
to account for all the influence that Phoenicia exerted upon Greece. 
One inestimable service the Phoenicians are said to have ren- 
dered to Hellas, and thereby to Europe. It is generally supposed 
that they gave the Greeks the most useful instrument of civiliza- 
tion, the art of writing. If this theory is true, it was perhaps at 
the beginning of the ninth century, hardly later, that the Phoeni- 
cian alphabet was moulded to the needs of the Greek language. 
In this adaptation the Greeks showed their genius. The alphabet 
of the Phoenicians and their Semitic brethren is an alphabet of 
consonants; the Greeks added the vowels. They took some of the 
consonantal symbols for which their own language had no corre- 
sponding sounds, and used these superfluous signs to represent 
the vowels. We may suppose that the original idea was worked 
out in Ionia. In Ionia, at all events, writing was introduced at an 
early period and was perhaps used by poets of the ninth century. 
Certain it is that the earliest reference to writing is in the Iliad, in 
the story of Bellerophon, who carries from Argos to Lycia "deadly 
symbols (o-^ara \vyp6.) in a folded tablet." It seems simpler to 
suppose that the poet had in his mind a letter written in the Greek 
alphabet, than that he was thinking of the old pictorial forms of 
writing which were employed in ancient times. 






REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 4 1 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 74~7S) 

1. The Greek Conquest and Expansion. 

Bury, History of Greece, 30-65. Holm, History of Greece, I, xii. 

2. Homer. 

Bury, 65-69. Jebb, R. C, Primer of Greek Literature, 31-37. 

3. Homeric Civilization and Religion. 

Bury, 65-69. Holm, I, 122-134. Curtius, I, 61, 65-70. 

4. The Trojan War. 

Jebb, 2-25. Gayley, Classic Myths, 284-392, 313-335. 
Sources. Homer, Iliad and Odyssey. 

For an excellent list of topics based on the Homeric poems, see West, 
Ancient History, 96. 



CHAPTER III 

THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

i. Causes and Character of Greek Colonization. — The expan- 
sion of the Greeks beyond Greece proper and the coasts of the 
JEgea.n, the planting of Greek colonies on the shores of Thrace 
and the Black Sea, in Italy and Sicily, even in Spain and Gaul, 
began in the eighth, and reached its completion in the sixth, cen- 
tury. It was the continuation of the earlier expansion over the 
JEgesm islands and the coast of Asia Minor, the details of which 
are unknown to us. The great difference between Greek and 
Phoenician colonization is that, while the Phoenicians aimed solely 
at promoting their commerce, and only a few of their settlements, 
notably Carthage, became more than mere trading-stations or 
factories, Greek colonization satisfied other needs than desire of 
commercial profit. It was the expression of the adventurous spirit 
which has been poetically reflected in the legends of the " Sailing 
of the Argo " and the " Home-coming of Odysseus " — the same 
spirit, not to be expressed in any commercial formula, which 
prompted English colonization. 

Trade, of course, sometimes paved the way. The merchants 
of Miletus, who risked themselves in the dangerous waters of the 
Euxine, observed natural harbors and inviting sites for cities, and 
when they returned home, organized parties of settlers. The ad- 
venturous, the discontented, and the needy were always to be found. 
But in the case of the early colonies at least, it was not overpopu- 
lation of the land, so much as the nature of the land system, that 
drove men to emigrate. In various ways, under the family system, 
which was ill-suited to independent and adventurous spirits, it 

42 



CAUSES AND CHARACTER OF GREEK COLONIZATION 43 

would come about that individual members were excluded from 
a share in the common estate, and separated from their kin. 
Again, the political circumstances of most Greek states in the eighth 
and seventh centuries favored emigration. We have seen that at 
this time the aristocratic form of government generally prevailed. 
There were strong inducements for men to leave their native city, 
where they were of little account, and to join in the foundation of 
a new polis where they might themselves rule. In fact, political 
discontent was an immediate cause of Greek colonization. 

Wherever the Greek went, he retained his customs and language, 
and made a Greek "polis." It was as if a bit of Greece were set 
down on the remote shores of the Euxine or in the far west on the 
wild coasts of Gaul or Iberia. The colony was a private enter- 
prise, but the bond of kinship with the " mother-city " was care- 
fully fostered. Intercourse between colonies and the mother-coun- 
try was specially kept up at the great religious festivals of the year, 
and various marks of filial respect were shown by the daughter to 
the mother. When, as frequently befell, the colony determined 
herself in turn to throw off a new shoot, it was the recognized 
custom that she should seek the cecist or leader of the colonists 
from the mother-city. Thus the Megarian colony, Byzan- 
tium, when it founded its own colony, Mesembria, must have 
sought an cecist from Megara. The political importance of colo- 
nization was sanctified by religion, and it was a necessary formality, 
whenever a settlement was to be made, to ask the approbation of 
the Delphic god. The most ancient oracular god of Greece was 
Zeus of Dodona. But the oak-shrine in the highlands of Epirus 
was too remote to become the chief oracle of Greece, and the cen- 
tral position of Delphi enabled the astute priests of the Pythian 
Apollo to exalt the authority of their god as a true prophet to the 
supreme place in the Greek world. 

Colonization tended in two ways to promote a feeling of unity 
among the Greek peoples. By the wide diffusion of their race on 
the fringe of barbarous lands, it brought home to them more fully 



44 



THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 



the contrast between Greek and barbarian, and, by consequence, 
the community of the Greeks. The Greek dwellers in Asia Minor 
were naturally impressed with their own unity in a way which was 
strange to dwellers in Bceotia or Attica, who were surrounded on 
all sides by Greeks, and were therefore alive chiefly to local differ- 
ences. In the second place, colonization led to the association of 
Greeks of different cities. An cecist who decided to organize a 
party of colonists could not always find in his own city a sufficient 
number of men willing to take part in the enterprise. He therefore 
enlisted comrades from other cities; and thus many colonies were 
joint undertakings and contained a mixture of citizens of various 
nationalities. 

2. Colonies on the Coasts of the Euxine, Propontis, and North 
JEge&n. — A mist of obscurity hangs about the beginnings of the 




SS>y y; ■/ P>"l>o "'is . - ' • 



ENGLISH MILES 
50 100 150 200 

*-<-■ ' ■ d t I 

40' 



Colonies in the Pontus and Propontis 



.BORMAY E. CO., N.Y. 



first Greek cities which arose on the Pontic shores. Here Miletus 
was the pioneer. Merchants carrying the stuffs which were manu- 
factured from the wool of Milesian sheep may have established 



COLONIES ON THE COASTS 



45 



trading-stations along the southern coast. But the work of colo- 
nization beyond the gate of the Bosphorus can hardly have fully 
begun until the gate itself was secured by the enterprise of Megara, 
which sent out men, in the first part of the seventh century, to 677 b.c. 
found the towns of Chalcedon and Byzantium. This is the first 
appearance of the little state of Megara in Greek history; and none 
of her contemporaries took a step that was destined to lead to 
greater things than the settlement on the Bosphorus. Westward 
from Byzantium they also founded Selymbria, on the north coast 
of the Propontis; eastward they established " Heraclea in Pontus," 553 B.a 
on the coast of Bithynia. 




Greek Colonies in the Northern .-Egean 



The enterprise of the Megarians stimulated Miletus. At the 
most northerly point of the southern coast a strait-necked cape 
forms two natural harbors, an attractive site for settlers, and here 
the Milesians planted the city Sinope. Farther east arose another 
Milesian colony, Trapezus. At the Bosphorus the Milesians had 
been anticipated by Megara, but they partly made up for this by 
planting Abydus on the Hellespont opposite Sestos, and they also 




46 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

seized a jutting promontory on the south coast of the Propontis, 
where a narrow neck, as at Sinope, forms two harbors. The town 
was named Cyzicus; the tunny-fish on her coins shows what was 
one of the chief articles of her trade. Lampsacus, at the northern 
end of the Hellespont, once a Phoenician factory, was colonized 
by another Ionian city, Phocaea, about the same time. 

If Miletus and Megara took the most prominent part in extend- 
ing the borders of the Greek world eastward of the Hellespont, the 
northwestern corner of the ^Egean was the special domain of Eubcea. 
The coast of Macedonia, between the rivers 
Axius and Strymon, runs out into a huge 
three-pronged promontory. Here Chalcis 
planted so many towns that the whole 
promontory was named Chalcidice. Some 
of the chief cities, however, were founded 
by other states, notably Corinthian Potidaea 

Early ~"<Coin~"" of Po- on tne most westerly of the three prongs, 

tid^ea (Obverse), which was called Pallene. Sithonia was the 

Poseidon riding; cen t ra l prong, and Acte, ending in Mount 

Athos, the eastern. Some of the colonies 

on Pallene were founded by Eretria, and those along the coast 

north of Acte by Andros, which was dependent on Eretria. 

Hence we may regard this group of cities as Eubcean, though we 

cannot regard it as Chalcidian. On the west side of the Ther- 

maic Bay, two Eubcean colonies were planted — Pydna and 

Methone — on Macedonian soil. 

3. Colonies in the Western Mediterranean. — The earliest 
mention of Sicilian and Italian regions in literature is to be found 
in some later passages of the Odyssey, which should perhaps be 
referred to the eighth century. By the end of the seventh cen- 
tury, Greek states stood thick on the east coast of Sicily and 
round the sweep of the Tarentine Gulf. These colonies naturally 
fall into four groups: (1) the Eubcean settlements in Italy; (2) the 
Eubcean settlements in Sicily; (3) the Dorian settlements in Sicily 
and Italy; (4) the Achaean settlements in Italy. 




47 



48 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

(i) The Eubcean Settlements in Italy. — The earliest navigation 
of the western seas was ascribed to Heracles, who reached the 
limits of the land of the setting sun, and stood on the ledge of the 
world looking out upon the stream of Oceanus. From him the 
opposite cliffs which form the gate of the Mediterranean were called 
the Pillars of Heracles. The earliest colony founded by Greek 
sailors in the western seas was said to have been Cyme on the coast 
of Campania. Tradition assigned to it an origin before iooo B.C. 
But though we place its origin in the eighth century, the tradition 
that it was the earliest Greek city founded in Italy may possibly 
be true. Chalcis, Eretria, and Cyme, a town on the eastern coast 
of Eubcea, cooperated and succeeded in establishing their colony, 
Cyme, on a rocky height which rises above the sea where the Ital- 
ian coast is about to turn sharply eastward to encircle the bay of 
Naples. Subsequently they occupied the harbor, which was inside 
the promontory and established there the town of Dicaearchia, 
which afterward became Puteoli; farther east they founded Naples, 
" the new city." 

The solitary position of Cyme in these regions — for no Greek 
settlement could be made northward on account of the great 
Etruscan power, and there was no rival southward until the later 
foundation of Posidonia — made her influence both wide and noise- 
less. There are no striking wars or struggles to record; but the 
work she did holds an important and definite place in the history 
of European civilization. To the Eubceans of Cyme, we may say 
that we owe the alphabet which we use to-day, for it was from 
them that the Latins learned to write. Again, the Cymaeans 
introduced the neighboring Italian peoples to a knowledge of the 
Greek gods and Greek religion. Heracles, Apollo, Castor, and 
Polydeuces became such familiar names in Italy that they came 
to be regarded as original Italian deities. The oracles of the Cy- 
maean Sibyl, prophetess of Apollo, were believed to contain the 
destinies of Rome. 

(2) Sicily and the Eubcean Settlements in Sicily. — The next 






COLONIES IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN 49 

settlement of the Eubcean Greeks was on Sicilian, not Italian, ground. 
The island of Sicily is the center of the Mediterranean ; it parts 
the eastern from the western waters. It has been thus marked out 
by nature as a meeting-place of nations ; and the struggle between 
European and Asiatic peoples, which has been called the " Eternal 
Question," has been partly fought out on Sicilian soil. There has 
been in historical times no native Sicilian power. The greatness 
of the island was due to colonization — not migration — from 
other lands. Lying as a connecting link between Europe and 
Africa, it attracted settlers from both sides. 

The earliest inhabitants of the island were the Sicans. From 
them the island was called Sicania. The next comers were the 
Sicels, and as we find Sicels in the toe of Italy, we know that 
tradition correctly described the Sicilian Sicels as settlers from 
the Italian peninsula. The Sicels wrested from the Sicans the 
eastern half of the island, which was thus cut up into two coun- 
tries — Sicania in the west, Sicelia in the east. At a very early 
time Sicania was invaded by a mysterious people named Elymians, 
probably of Iberian race. They occupied a small territory in 
the northwest of the island. Of these three peoples who inhabited 
this miniature continent, soon about to become the battlefield 
of Greek and Phoenician, the Sicels were the most numerous and 
most important. 

At an early age merchants from Phoenicia planted factories 
on the coasts of the island. At first they did not make any settle- 
ments of a permanent kind — any that could be called cities. 
For Sicily was to them only a house to call at, lying directly on 
their way to the land of the farthest west, when they went forth 
to win the golden treasures of Tarshish and planted their earliest 
colony, Gades, outside the straits which divide Europe from Africa. 
Their next colonies were on the coast of Africa over against Sicily, 
and this settlement had a decisive influence on the destinies of the 
island. The settlements of Hippo and Utica, older than Carthage, 
were probably the parents of the more abiding Phoenician settle- 



50 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

ments in Sicily. In the east of the island the Phoenicians had no 
secure foothold; they appeared purely in the guise of traders. 
Hence when the Greeks came and seriously set to work to plant 
true cities, the Phoenicians disappeared. 

Sicilian, like Italian, history really opens with the coming of 
the Greeks. They came under the guidance of Chalcis and the 
auspices of Apollo. It was naturally on the east coast, which 
faces Greece, that the first Greek settlement was made, and it is 
to be noticed that of the coasts of Sicily the east is that which 
most resembles in character the coast-line of Greece. The site, 
which was chosen by the Chalcidians, and the Ionians of Naxos 
who accompanied them, was not a striking one. A little tongue of 
land, north of Mount ^Etna, was selected for the foundation of 
Naxos. Here, as in the case of Cyme, the Chalcidians who led 
the enterprise surrendered the honor of naming the new city to 
their less prominent fellow-founders. A sort of consecration was 

always attached to Naxos as the 
first homestead of the Hellenes 
in the island. An altar to Apollo 
was erected on the spot where 
the Greeks first landed, at which 
it was the habit of ambassadors 
Coin of Zancle, Early (Obverse) . from old Greece to offer sacri- 

HARBOR OF ZANCLE, WITH A DOL- fice ag SQOn as 

phin [Legend : aank (Aa£wv)] . . . 

they arrived in 

Sicily. In the fertile plain south of JEtna, the 
Chalcidians soon afterward founded Catane, close 
to the sea, and inland Leontini. These cities 
were wrested from the Sicels. The Chalcidians CoiN OF hime- 
also won possession of the northeast corner, and ra, Early (Ob- 
thus obtained command of the straits between verse). Cock 
the island and the mainland. Here Cymaeans and Chalcidians 
planted Zancle on a low rim of land, which resembles a reaping- 
hook (£dy kXov), and gave the place its name. The haven is 





COLONIES IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN 



51 



formed by the curving blade; and when Zancle came in after- 
days to mint money, she engraved on her coins a sickle repre- 
senting her harbor and a dolphin floating within it. A hundred 
years later the city was transformed by the immigration of 
a company of Messenians, and ultimately the old local name 
was ousted in favor of Messana. From Zancle the Eubceans 
founded Himera, the only Greek city on the northern coast. It 
was important for Zancle that the land over against her, the ex- 
treme point of the Italian peninsula, should be in friendly hands, 
and therefore the men of Zancle incited their mother-city to found 
Rhegion ; and in this foundation Messenians took part. 

(3) Dorian Settlements in Sicily. — While this group of Chal- 
cidian colonies was being formed in northeastern Sicily, Dorian 
Greeks began to obtain a footing in south- 
eastern Sicily. The earliest of the Dorian 

cities was also the greatest. Syracuse, des- /fdfWLtf&SatSi "% 734 B - c - 
tined to be the head of Greek Sicily, was 
founded by Corinthian emigrants under the 
leadership of Archias before the end of the 
eighth century. Somewhere about the same 
time Corinth also colonized Corcyra; the 
Ionian islands were halfway stations to the 
west. Tradition placed both foundations 
in the same year. But in both cases Cor- 
inth had to dispossess previous Greek set- 
tlers, and in both cases the previous settlers were Eubceans. Her 
colonists had to drive Eretrians from Corcyra and Chalcidians 
from Syracuse. 

At an early date Megarians also sailed into the west to find 728 b.c. 
a new home. After various unsuccessful attempts to establish 
themselves, they finally built their city on the coast north of Syra- 
cuse, beside the hills of Hybla, and perhaps Sicel natives joined 6 2 8 b.c. 
in founding the Sicilian Megara. But, like her mother, the new 
Megara was destined to found a colony more famous than herself. 




Coin of Syracuse, 
Early (Obverse). 
Head of Arethu- 
sa; Dolphins [Le- 
gend : 2YPA 9 02I0N] 



52 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

688 b.c. This settlement, which was to be the westernmost outpost of Greek 

595 b.c. Sicily, was Selinus, a town named of wild celery (o-e'A.ivoy), situated 

on a low hill on the coast. In the meantime, the southeastern 
corner was being studded gradually with Dorian cities. At the 
beginning of the seventh century, Gela was planted by Rhodian 
colonists with Cretans in their train. At a later time, Camarina 
was planted from Syracuse. 
581 b.c The latest Dorian colony of Sicily was only less conspicuous than 

the first. The Geloans sought an cecist from their Rhodian 
metropolis, and founded, halfway between their own city and 
Selinus, the lofty town of Acragas, which soon took the second 
place in Greek Sicily and became the rival of Syracuse. It was 
perched on a high hill near the sea-shore. The small, poor 
haven was at some distance from the town ; " flock-feeding 
Acragas " never became a maritime power. 

In planting their colonies and founding their dominion in 
Sicily the Greeks had mainly to reckon with the Sicels. In 
their few foundations in the farther west they had to deal 
with the Sicans. These older inhabitants were forced to retire 
from the coasts, but they lived on their fortresses on the in- 
land hills. The island was too large and its character too con- 
tinental to invite the newcomers to attempt to conquer the whole 
of it. With the Phcenicians the Greeks had no trouble. Their 
factories and temples had not taken root in the soil, and on the 
landing of a stranger who was resolved to take root, they vanished. 
But they did not abandon the western corner of the island, where 
the Greeks made no attempt to settle. There they maintained 
three places which now assumed the character of cities. These 
were Panormus, Solus, and Motya. The Elymian country lay 
between Motya and Panormus. The chief town of the Elymi- 
ans, Segesta (which in Greek mouths became Egesta), was essen- 
tially a city, while Eryx, farther west, high above the sea but 
not actually on it, was their outpost of defence. At Eryx they 
worshipped some goddess of nature, soon to be identified with 



COLONIES IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN 53 

the Greek Aphrodite. The Elymians were on good terms with 
the Phoenicians, and western Sicily became a Phoenician corner. 
While the inland country was left to Sicel and Sican, the coasts 
were to be the scene of struggles between Phoenician and Greek. 

Italy, the name by which we know the central of the three great 
peninsulas of the Mediterranean, did not extend as far north as the 
Po in the time of Julius Caesar, and originally it covered a very 
small area indeed. In the fifth century Thucydides applied the 
name Italy to the western of the two extremities into which the 
peninsula is divided. This extremity was inhabited, when the 
Greeks first visited it, by Sicels and CEnotrians, on whose seaboard 
the Achaeans of the Peloponnesus, probably toward the close of the 
eighth century, found a field for colonization. The first colonies 
which they planted in Italy were perhaps Sybaris and Croton, 
famous for their wealth and their rivalry. Sybaris, on the river 721 b.c. 
Crathis, in an unhealthy but most fruitful plain, soon extended her 
dominion across the narrow peninsula, and, founding the settle- 
ments of Laos and Scidros on the western coast, commanded two 
seas. Thus, having in her hands an overland route to the western 
Mediterranean, she could forward to her ports on the Tyrrhenian 
Sea the valuable merchandise of the Milesians, whom Chalcidian 
jealousy excluded from the straits between Italy and Sicily. Thus 
both agriculture and traffic formed the basis of the remarkable 
wealth of Sybaris, and the result was an elaboration of luxury 
which caused the Sybarite name to pass into a proverb. Posi- 
donia, famous for its temples and its roses, was another colony 
on the western sea, founded from Sybaris. 

To the south of Sybaris is Croton. Like Sybaris, Croton widened 703 b.c. 
its territory and planted colonies of its own. Caulonia, perhaps 
also a settlement of Croton, was the most southerly Achaean 
colony and was the neighbor of the western Locri. 

(4) Achcean and Dorian Settlements in Italy. — The Achaeans 
and Locrians had more in common with each other than either 
had with the Dorians, and we may conveniently include Locri 




54 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

in the Achaean group. Thus the southern coast of Italy would 
have been almost a homogeneous circle if a Dorian colony had 
not been established in a small sheltered bay at the extreme 
north point of the gulf, to which it gave 'the name it still bears — ■ 
Taras orTarentum. Taras was remarkable as 
the only foreign settlement ever made by the 
greatest of all the Dorian peoples. Laconian 
settlers occupied the place at some unknown 
date and made of it a Dorian city. The pros- 
perity of the Tarentines depended partly on the 

Coin of Taras, cultivation of a fruitful territory, but mainly on 
Fifth Century , , . r , . . , , r™ . c , . 

, . T their manufacturing industry. I heir fabrics 

ras on a Dol- and dyed wools became renowned, and their 
phin; Shell pottery was widely diffused. Taras, in fact, 
p A21 must be regarded as an industrial rather than 

as an agricultural state. 
Thus the western coast of the Tarentine Gulf was beset with a 
line of Achaean cities, flanked at one extremity by western Locri, 
on the other by Dorian Taras. The common feature, which dis- 
tinguished them from the cities settled by the men of Chalcis and 
Corinth, was that their wealth depended on the mainland, not on 
the sea. Their rich men were landowners, not merchants; it was 
not traffic, but rich soil, that had originally lured them to the far 
west. These cities, with their dependencies beyond the hills, 
on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, came to be regarded as a 
group, and the country came to be called Great Hellas (Magna 
Graecia). 

4. Growth of Trade and Maritime Enterprise. — While the 
colonies were politically independent of their mother-states, they 
reacted in many ways on the mother-country. We have seen 
how the system of family property was favorable to colonial enter- 
prise. But the colonists, who had suffered under that system, 
were not likely to introduce it in their new settlements, and thus 
the institution of personal landownership was probably first es- 



GROWTH OF TRADE AND MARITIME ENTERPRISE 55 

tablished and regulated in the colonies. Their example reacted on 
the mother-country, where other natural causes were also grad- 
ually undermining the family system. In the first place, as the 
power of the state grew greater, the power of the family grew less ; 
and the prestige of the head of the family, overshadowed by the 
power of the state, became insensibly weaker. In the second 
place, it was common to assign a portion of an estate to one mem- 
ber of the family, to manage and enjoy the undivided use of it; 
and the natural tendency must have been to allow it on his death 
to pass to his son on the same conditions. It is clear that such a 
practice tended to the ultimate establishment of personal proprietor- 
ship of the soil. Again, side by side of the undivided family 
estate, personal properties were actually acquired. At this period 
there was much wild, unallotted land, " which wild beasts haunt," 
especially on the hill-slopes, and when a man of energy reclaimed 
a portion of this land for tillage, the new fields became his own, 
for they had belonged to no man. We can thus see generally how 
inevitable it was that the old system should disappear and the 
large family estates break up into private domains. 

The Boeotian poet Hesiod has given us a picture of rural life 
in Greece at this period. He was a husbandman himself near c ?OQ B c# 
Ascra, where his father, who had come as a stranger from Cyme 
in ^Eolis, had put under cultivation a strip of waste land on the 
slopes of Helicon. The farm was divided between his two sons, 
Perses and Hesiod, but in unequal shares; and Hesiod accuses 
Perses of winning the larger portion by bribing the lords of the 
district. But Perses managed his farm badly, and did not prosper. 
Hesiod wrote his poem the Works to teach such unthrifty farmers 
as his brother true principles of agriculture and economy. His 
view of life is profoundly gloomy, and suggests a condition of 
grave social distress in Bceotia. This must have been mainly 
due to the oppression of the nobles, " gift-devouring " princes, as 
he calls them. The poet looks back to the past with regret. The 
golden age, the silver, and the bronze have all gone by, and the 



56 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

age of the heroes who fought at Troy ; and mankind is now in the 
iron age, and " will never cease by day or night from weariness and 
woe." The poem gives minute directions for the routine of the 
husbandman's work, the times and seasons of sowing and reap- 
ing, and the other labors of the field, the fashion of the implements 
of tillage; and all this is accompanied by maxims of proverbial 
wisdom. Hesiod has a great significance as the first spokesman 
of the common folk. In the history of Europe, his is the first voice 
raised from among the toiling classes and claiming the interest of 
mankind in their lot. It is a voice indeed of acquiescence, coun- 
selling fellow-toilers to make the best of an evil case; the stage 
of revolt has not yet been reached. But the grievances are aired, 
and the lords who wield the power are exhorted to deal just 
judgments, that the land may prosper. 

Bceotia was always an unenterprising country of husbandmen, 
and Hesiod had no sympathy with trade or foreign venture. But 
the growth of trade was the most important fact of the time, and 
here, too, the colonies reacted on the mother-country. By enlarging 
the borders of the Greek world they invited and facilitated the 
extension of Greek trade and promoted the growth of industries. 
Hitherto the Greeks had been mainly an agricultural and pastoral 
people ; many of them were now becoming industrial. They had 
to supply their western colonies with oil and wool, with metal and 
pottery, and they began to enter into serious competition with 
the Phoenician trader. 

Greek trade moved chiefly along water-ways, and this is illus- 
trated by the neglect of road-making in Greece. There were no 
paved roads, even in later times, except the Sacred Ways to fre- 
quented sanctuaries, like that from Athens to Eleusis and Delphi, 
or that from the sea-coast to Olvmpia. Yet the Greeks were 
still timorous navigators, and it was deemed hazardous to sail 
even in the most familiar waters, except in the late summer. 
Hesiod expresses the general fear of the sea: " For fifty days after 
the solstice, till the end of the harvest, is the tide for sailing; then 



GROWTH OF TRADE AND MARITIME ENTERPRISE 57 

you will not wreck your ship, nor will the sea wash down your 
crew, unless Poseidon or Zeus wills their destruction." 

Seafaring states found it needful to build warships for protection 
against pirates. The usual type of the early Greek warship was 
the penteconter or " fifty-oar," a long, narrow galley with twentv- 
five benches, on each of which two oarsmen sat. The penteconter 
hardly came into use in Greece before the eighth century. The 
Homeric Greeks had only smaller vessels of twenty oars. But 




Dipylon Vase, with Ship (British Museum) 

before the end of the eighth century a new idea revolutionized 
ship building in Phoenicia. Vessels were built with two rows of 
benches, one above the other, so that the number of oarsmen and 
the speed were increased without adding to the length of the ship. 
The " bireme," however, never became common in Greece, for 
the Phoenicians had soon improved it into the " trireme," by the 
superposition of another bank of oars. 1 The trireme, propelled 

1 The secret of building this kind of galley has been lost. Modern shipwrights 
cannot reproduce a trireme. In later times the Greeks built ships of many banks 
— five, ten, even forty. 



58 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

by one hundred and seventy rowers, was ultimately to come into 
universal use as the regular Greek warship, though for a long time 
after its first introduction by the Corinthians the old penteconters 
were still generally used. But penteconters and triremes alike 
were affected by the new invention of the bronze ram on the prow 
— a weapon of attack which determined the future character of 
Greek naval warfare. 

The Greeks believed that the first regular sea-fight between two 
Greek powers was fought before the middle of the seventh century 
between Corinth and her daughter-city Corcyra. If the tradition 
is true, we may be sure that the event was an incident in the strug- 
gle for the trade with Italy and Sicily and along the Adriatic coasts. 
The chief competitors, however, with Corinth in the west, were the 
Eubcean cities, Chalcis and Eretria. In the traffic in eastern seas 
the island city of i^Egina, though she had no colonies of her own, 
took an active part, and became one of the richest mercantile states 
of Greece. 

5. Influence of Lydia on Greece. — The Greeks of the Asiatic 
coast were largely dependent, for good or evil, on the adjacent in- 
land countries. The inland trade 
added to their prosperity, but at any 
moment if a strong barbarian power 
arose, their independence might be 
gravely menaced. At the beginning 

electron Coin o7~Lydia of the seventh century, active inter- 

(Beginning of Seventh course was maintained between the 

Century) . Obverse: Greeks and the kingdoms of Phrygia 
Striated Surface. Re- , t ,. _- „. . .. __.° 

verse: Oblong and Two an d Lydia. The Phrygian king Midas 

Square Sinkings was said in later times to have dedi- 

cated a throne to the god of Delphi. 

A considerable Phrygian element had won its way into Lydia, 
and had gained the upper hand. But the Phrygian rulers had 
become degenerate, and Gyges, a native Lydian, succeeded in 
slaying the king Candaules and seizing the crown. This revolution 




INFLUENCE OF LYDIA ON GREECE 



59 




ushered in a new period for the Lydian kingdom. Gyges was am- 
bitious to control the Greek cities to the north and west of .his 
kingdom and led expeditions against Miletus and the Ionian 
cities. Possibly Colophon and Magnesia were captured, but the 
other cities were able to hold their own and repel Gyges. His 
plans, however, were interrupted by an invasion of the Cimme- 
rians, barbarians who lived in what is now known as the Crimea, 
who overran Lydia, captured 
its capital Sardis, and slew 
Gyges in battle; and in their 
turn threatened the Greek 
cities. But the danger was 

averted, for Gyges was sue- CoiN OF Halicarnassus, Sixth Cen- 

, , , * i , r n tury. Obverse: Stag [Legend: 

ceeded by Ardys, who finally $AN02 Em 2EMA] REVERSE: lNCUSE 

drove back the Cimmerians 

and abandoned for the time the conquest of the Greek cities. 
In the meantime, Lydia had made an invention which revolu- 
tionized commerce. It is to Lydia that Europe owes the invention 
of coinage. The Babylonians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians made 
use of weighed gold and silver as a medium of exchange, a certain 
ratio being fixed between the two metals. A piece of weighed 
metal becomes a coin when it is stamped by the state, and is thereby 
warranted to have its professed weight and purity. This step 
was first taken in Lydia, where the earliest money was coined 
somewhere about the beginning of the seventh century, probably 
by Gyges. Miletus and Samos soon adopted the new invention, 
which then spread to other Asiatic towns. Then ^Egina and 
the two great cities of Eubcea instituted monetary systems. By 
degrees all the states of Greece followed their example and gave 
up the primitive custom of estimating value in heads of cattle, and 
established mints of their own. As gold was very rare in Greece, 
not being found except in the islands of Siphnos and Thasos, the 
Greeks coined in silver. This invention, coming at the very 
moment when the Greeks were entering upon a period of great 



6o 



THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 



C. 630 B.C. 





Coin of Cyrene, 
Fifth Century 
(Obverse) Head 
of Zeus Ammon 
[Legend: kypa] 



commercial activity, was of immense importance, not only in 
facilitating trade, but in rendering possible the accumulation 
of capital. 

6. The Opening of Egypt and Foundation of Cyrene. — Thus 
the merchants of Miletus and her fellows grew rich. They were the 
intermediaries between Lydia and the Mediterranean ; while the 

Lydians carried Greek 
wares to the interior parts 
of Asia Minor and the far 
east. Their argosies sailed 
to the far west, as well as 
to the coasts of the Euxine. 
But a new field for winning 
wealth was opened to them, 
much about the same time 
as the invention of coinage 
revealed a new prospect to 
the w r orld of commerce. 
The jealously guarded gates of Egypt were unbarred to Greek 
trade. 

Egypt had been conquered by Assyria and the land split up 
into endless small dependent kingdoms. But Psammetichus, one 
of the kings of Lower Egypt, revolted, and with the help of 
Ionian and Carian mercenaries, brought the whole of Egypt 
under his sway. Psammetichus and his successors departed from 
the old policy of the Pharaohs and opened Egypt to the trade 
of the world and allowed the Greeks to settle permanently in the 
country. The Milesians founded a trading station on the Nile, 
around which the city of Naucratis grew up, which became the 
haven of all Greek traders. Farther to the west, bands of exiles 
and adventurers from the islands of Thera and Crete founded the 
city of Cyrene. This was the only Greek colony in Africa to attain 
eminence and wealth, and, though its civilization was influenced 
by the Libyans, it occupied a high place in the Greek world. 



Coin of Cyrene, 
Early (Ob- 
verse). Sil- 
PHION; Sil- 
phion Seed; 
Lion's Head 



POPULAR DISCONTENT IN GREECE 6 1 

7. Popular Discontent in Greece. — The advance of the Greeks 
in trade and industry produced many consequences of moment 
for their political and social development. The manufactures 
required labor, and a sufficient number of free laborers was not 
to be had. Slaves were therefore indispensable, and they were 
imported in large numbers from Asia Minor and Thrace and the 
coasts of the Euxine. The slave-trade became a profitable enter- 
prise, and the men of Chios made it their chief pursuit. The exist- 
ence of household slaves, generally war-captives, such as we meet 
in Homer, was an innocent institution which would never have 
had serious results; but the new organized slave system which 
began in the seventh century was destined to prove one of the 
most fatal causes of disease and decay to the states of Greece. 

At first the privileged classes of the aristocratic republics bene- 
fited by the increase of commerce ; for the nobles were themselves 
the chief speculators. But the wealth which they acquired by 
trade undermined their political position. For, in the first place, 
their influence depended largely on their domains of land; and 
when industries arose to compete with agriculture, the importance 
of land necessarily declined. In the second place, wealth intro- 
duced a new political standard ; and aristocracies resting on birth 
tended to transform themselves into aristocracies resting on wealth. 
As nobility by birth cannot be acquired, whereas wealth can, such 
a change is always a step in the direction of democracy. 

The poorer freemen at first suffered. Their distress and dis- 
content drove them into striving for full political equality, and in 
many cases they strove with success. The second half of the seventh 
century is marked in many parts of Greece by struggles between the 
classes; and the wiser and better of the nobles began themselves 
to see the necessity of extending political privileges to their fellow- 
citizens. The centralization in towns, owing to the growth of 
industries and the declining importance of agriculture, created a 
new town population, and doubtless helped on the democratic 
movement. 



62 THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

In this agitated period lived a poet of great genius, Archilochus 
of Paros. It has been truly said that Archilochus is the first Greek 
" of flesh and blood " whom we can grasp through the mists of 
antiquity. Son of a noble by a slave mother, he tried his luck 
among the adventurers who went forth to colonize Siris in Italy, 
but he returned having won an experience of seafaring which 
taught him to sing of the " bitter gifts of Poseidon " and the mari- 
ner's prayers for " sweet home." Then he took part in a Parian 
colonization of Thasos, and was involved in party struggles which 
rent the island. It must have been at Thasos that he witnessed 
an eclipse of the sun at noontide, which he describes; and this 
gives us, as a date in the Thasian period of his life, the 6th of 
April, 648 B.C. — the first exact date we have bearing on the history 
of Greece. He announces that he is " the servant of the lord of 
battle, and skilled in the delicious gift of the Muses." But when 
he fought in a war which the islanders waged with the Thracians 
of the opposite coast, he ran for his life and dropped his shield. 
" Never mind," he said, " I will get me another as good." Poor, 
with a stain on his birth, tossed about the world, soured by ad- 
versity, Archilochus in his poetry gave full expression to his feel- 
ings, and used it to utter his passionate hatred against his enemies, 
such as the Parian Lycambes, for instance, who refused him his 
daughter Neobule. 




Early Coin of Caulonia. Obverse: Apollo with Bough, Small Fig- 
ure on 111s Akm; Stag [Legend: kayao]. Reverse: Incuse back 
of these Figures 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 



63 



A TABULAR VIEW OF THE EXPANSION OF GREECE 

(This list contains the important colonies mentioned in the text, together with the traditional 
dates of their foundation and the mother-city.) 



Colonies in the East 


Colonies 


in the West 


1. Colonies on the North JEgean. 


1. Colonies in 


Italy. 


Potidaea. Corinth. 


Cyme. Euboean. 8th century. 


Pvdna. Euboean. 


Dicaeadchia. Cyme. 


Methone. Euboean. 


(Neapolis. 


) 


Olynthus. Euboean (Chalcis). 


Rhegion. 


Euboean. 




Sybaris. 


Achaean, 721 B.C. 


2. Colonies on the Propontis. 


Laos. 


Sybaris. 


Byzantium. Megara, 660 B.C. 


Posidonia. 


Sybaris. 


Chalcedon. Megara, 667 B.C. 


Croton. 


Achaean, 703 B.C. 


Selymbria. Megara. 


Terina. 


Croton. 


Abydos. Miletus. 


Caulonia. 


Croton. 


Cyzicus. Miletus. 


Locri. 


Achaean. 


Lampsacus. Phocsea. 


Tarentum. 


Dorian. 


3. Colonies in the Euxine. 


2. Colonies in 


Sicily. 


Heraclea in Pontus. Megara. 


Syracuse. 


Dorian, 734 B.C. 


Sinope. Miletus. 


Megara. 


Megara, 728 B.C. 


Trapezus. Miletus. 


Selinus. 


Megara. 


Dioscurias. Miletus. 


Gela. 


Rhodes, 688 B.C. 


Panticapaeum. 


Acragas. 


Gela. 


Heraclea Chersonesus. Miletus. 


Naxos. 


Euboean, 735 B.C. 




Catane. 


Euboean, 728 B.C. 




Leontini. 


Euboean, 728 B.C. 




Zancle. 


Euboean, 715 B.C. 




Himera. 


Euboean. 



Morey, Ancient History, 112, contains a somewhat longer list with the dates 
given by Grote. 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 77) 
(Note. References to the general histories and special works are generally 
too long and detailed to be assigned. It is suggested that this chapter be 
treated by means of map exercises rather than by supplementary references.) 



CHAPTER IV 

GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF THE ARISTOCRACIES 

i . Sparta and her Constitution. — The Dorian settlers from 
the north, who took possession of the valley of the Eurotas, es- 
tablished themselves in a number of village communities through- 
out the land, and bore the name of Lacedaemonians. In the course 
of time, a city-state grew up in their midst and won dominion over 
the rest. The city was called Sparta, and took the dominant 
place in Laconia which had been formerly held by Amyclae. The 
other Lacedaemonian communities were called the periceci, or "dwell- 
ers round about" the ruling city, and, though they were free and 
managed their local affairs, they had no political rights in the Spar- 
tan state. The chief burdens which fell on them were military 
service and the farming of the royal domains. 

The Spartans were always noted for their conservative spirit. 
Hence we find in their constitution survivals of an old order of 
things which existed in the days of Homeric poetry. The most 
striking of these survivals was royalty; Sparta was nominally 
ruled by kings. 

This conservative spirit of the Spartans rendered them anxious 
to believe that their constitution had existed from very ancient 
times in just the same shape and feature which it displayed in 
the days of recorded history. There can be little doubt, however, 
that the Spartan state, like most other states, passed through the 
stages of royalty and aristocracy; and that the final form of the 
constitution was the result of a struggle between the nobles and 
the people. The remarkable thing was that throughout these 
changes hereditary kingship survived. 

64 



SPARTA AND HER CONSTITUTION 6$ 

The machine of the Spartan constitution had four parts: the 
Kings, the Council, the Assembly, and the Ephors. The first 
three are the original institutions, common to the whole Greek 
race; the Ephors were a later institution, and were peculiar to 
Sparta. 

(i) Kings. — We saw that toward the end of the Homeric 
period the powers of the king were limited, and that this limited 
monarchy then died out, sometimes leaving a trace behind it, 
perhaps in the name of a magistracy — like the king-archon at 
Athens. In a few places it survived, and Sparta was one of 
them. But, if it survived here, its powers were limited in 
a twofold way. It was limited not only by the other institu- 
tions of the state, but by its own dual character. For there were 
two kings at Sparta, and had been since the memory of men. 
The kingship passed from father to son in the two royal houses of 
the Agids and Eurypontids. Of the religious, military, and judicial 
functions, which belonged to them and to all other Greek kings 
the Spartan kings lost some and retained others. 

They were privileged to hold certain priesthoods; they offered 
solemn sacrifices for the city every month to Apollo; they prepared 
the necessary sacrifices before warlike expeditions and battles; 
they were priests, though not the sole priests, of the community. 

They were the supreme commanders of the army. It is recorded 
that they had originally the right of making war upon whatever 
country they chose, though in historical times war and peace were 
decided, not by the kings, but by the Assembly. But in the field 
they were sovereign; they had unlimited right of life and death; 
and they had a bodyguard of a hundred men. It is clear that these 
large powers were always limited by the double nature of the king- 
ship. But at a date shortly before 500 B.C. it was defined by law 
that only one of the kings, to be chosen on each occasion by the 
people, should lead the army in time of war, and moreover they 
were made responsible to the community for their conduct in their 
campaigns. 



66 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

But while they enjoyed this supreme position as high-priests 
and leaders of the host, they could hardly be considered judges 
any longer. The right of dealing out dooms like the Homeric 
Agamemnon had passed away from them; only in special cases 
had they still judicial or legal powers. 

There were royal domains in the territory of the periceci from 
which the kings derived their revenue. But they also had per- 
quisites at public sacrifices; on such occasions they were (like 
Homeric kings) given the first seat at the banquet, were served 
first, and received a double portion of everything, and the hides 
of the slaughtered beasts. The king was succeeded by his son; 
if there were no children, the succession fell to the nearest male 
kinsman, who was likewise the regent in the case of a minority. 

(2) Council. — The gerontes or elders whom we find in Homer 
advising the king and also acting as judges have developed at 
Sparta into the Gerusia. This Council consisted of thirty members, 
including the two kings, who belonged to it by virtue of their king- 
ship. The other twenty-eight must be over sixty years of age, so 
that the Council was a body of elders in the strict sense of the word. 
They held their office for life and were chosen by acclamation in 
the general assembly of citizens, whose choice was supposed to 
fall on him whose moral merits were greatest; membership of 
the Council was described as a " prize for virtue." The Council 
prepared matters which were to come before the Assembly; if 
exercised, as an advising body, it was a great influence on 
political affairs; and it formed a court of justice for criminal 
cases. 

But though the Councillors were elected by the people, they were 
not elected from the people. Only men of the noble families could 
be chosen members of the Council. And thus the Council formed 
an oligarchical element in the Lacedaemonian constitution. 

(3) Assembly. — Every Spartan who had passed his thirtieth 
year was a member of the Apella, or Assembly of Citizens, which 
met every month. In old days, no doubt, it was summoned by 



SPARTA AND HER CONSTITUTION f 67 

the kings, but in historical times we find that this right has passed 
to' the ephors. The assembly did not debate, but having heard 
the proposals of kings or ephors, signified its will by acclamation. 
If it seemed doubtful to which opinion the majority of the voices 
inclined, recourse was had to a division. The people elected the 
members of the Gerusia, the ephors and other magistrates; de- 
termined questions of war and peace and foreign politics; and de- 
cided disputed successions to the kingly office. Thus, theoreti- 
cally, the Spartan constitution was a democracy. Xo Spartan 
was excluded from the Apella of the people ; and the will of the 
people expressed at their Apella was supreme. " To the people," 
runs an old statute, " shall belong the decision and the power." 
But the same statute granted to the executive authorities — " the 
elders and magistrates " — a power which restricted this apparent 
supremacy of the people. It allowed them " to be seceders, if 
the people make a crooked decree." It seems that the will of the 
people, declared by their acclamations, did not receive the force of 
law, unless it were then formally proclaimed before the Assembly 
was formally dissolved. If the elders and magistrates did not 
approve of the decision of the majority of the Assembly, they could 
annul the proceedings by refusing to proclaim it — " seceding " 
and dissolving the meeting, without waiting for the regular dis- 
solution by king or ephor. 

(4) Ephors. — The five ephors were the most characteristic 
part of the political constitution of Sparta. The origin of the office 
is veiled in obscurity; it was supposed to have been instituted in 
the first half of the eighth century. But it cannot have been till 
the seventh century that the ephors won their great political 
power. They must have won that power in a conflict between the 
nobility, who governed in conjunction with the kings, and the peo- 
ple, who had no share in the government. In that struggle the 
kings represented the cause of the nobility, while the ephors were 
the representatives of the people. This is clear from the oaths 
which were every month exchanged between the kings and the 



68 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

ephors. The king swore that he would observe the laws of the 
state in discharging his royal functions ; the ephor that he would 
maintain the royal power undiminished, so long as the king was 
true to his oath. In this ceremony we have the record of an acute 
conflict between the government and people. The democratic 
character of the ephorate appears from the fact that any Spartan 
might be elected. The mode of election was practically equivalent 
to an election by lot. 

The ephors entered upon their office at the beginning of the 
Laconian year. As chosen guardians of the rights of the people, 
they were called upon to watch jealously the conduct of the kings. 
With this object two ephors always accompanied the king on war- 
like expeditions. They had the power of indicting the king and 
summoning him to appear before them. The judicial functions 
which the kings lost passed partly to the ephors, partly to the 
Council. The ephors were the supreme civil court; the Council, 
as we have seen, formed the supreme criminal court. But in the 
case of the Periceci, the ephors were criminal judges also. They 
were, moreover, responsible for the strict maintenance of the order 
and discipline of the Spartan state, and, when they entered upon 
office, they issued a proclamation to the citizens to " shave their 
upper lips and obey the laws." 

2. Spartan Conquest of Messenia. — In the growth of Sparta 
the first and most decisive step was the conquest of Messenia. 
The southern portion of the Peloponnesus is divided into two parts 
by Mount Taygetus. Of these, the eastern part is again severed 
by Mount Parnon into two regions; the vale of the river Eurotas, 
and the rugged strip of coast between Parnon and the sea. The 
western country is less mountainous, more fruitful, and blessed 
by a milder climate. Its natural fortress was the lofty rock of 
Ithome. 

Of the First Messenian War, which must be assigned to the eighth 
century, all that we know with certainty is that the Spartan king, 
under whose auspices it was waged, was named Theopompus; 



SPARTAN CONQUEST OF MESSENIA 



69 



that it was decided by the capture of the great fortress of Ithome; 
and that the eastern part of the land became Laconian. 

As the object of the Spartans was to increase the number of the 
lots of land for their citizens, many of the conquered Messenians 
were reduced to the condition of Helots. For some generations 
they submitted patiently, but at length, when victorious Sparta 




SCALE OF MILES 



10 20 30 40 50 



B0RMAY ENGRAVING CO., N.Y. 



Sparta 

felt secure, a rebellion was organized. The rebels were supported End of 7th 
by their neighbors in Arcadia and Pisatis, and they are said to centuI T 
have found an able and ardent leader in Aristomenes, sprung from 
an old Messenian family. The revolt was at first successful. 
The Spartans fared ill, and their young men experienced the dis- 



JO GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

grace of defeat. The hopes of the serfs arose, and Sparta de- 
spaired of recovering the land. But a leader and a poet arose 
amongst them. The lame Tyrtaeus is recorded to have inspired 
his countrymen with such martial vigor that the tide of fortune 
turned, and Sparta began to retrieve her losses and recover her 
reputation. The warriors advanced to battle singing his " marches " 
to the sound of flutes, while his elegies are said to have been recited 
in the tents after the evening meal. But we learn from himself 
that his strategy was as effective as his poetry, and the Messenians 
were presently defeated in the battle of the Great Foss. They 
then retired to the northern stronghold of Eira on the river Nedon, 
which plays the same part in the second war that Ithome played 
in the first. But Eira fell; legend says that it was beleaguered 
for eleven years. Aristomenes was the soul of the defence, and 
his wonderful escapes became the argument of a stirring tale. 
On one occasion he was thrown, with -fifty fellow-countrymen 
captured by the Spartans, into a deep pit. His comrades perished, 
and Aristomenes awaited certain death. But by following the 
track of a fox he found a passage in the rocky wall of his prison and 
appeared on the following day at Eira. When the Spartans 
surprised that fortress, he made his escape wounded to Arcadia. 

Those Messenians who were left in the land were mostly reduced 
again to the condition of Helots, but the maritime communities 
and even a few in the interior remained free, as Periceci, in the pos- 
session of their estates. 

At this time Sparta, like most Greek states, suffered from, 
domestic discontent. The pressing land question was partly 
solved by the conquest of the whole land of Messenia; and doubt- 
less the foundation of the colony of Taras in southern Italy was 
undertaken for the purpose of relieving an excessive population. 

The Messenian war, as recorded by Tyrtaeus, shows us that the 
power of the privileged classes had already been undermined by 
a great change in the method of warfare. The fighting is done, 
and the victory won, by regiments of mailed foot-lancers, who 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT OF SPARTA J I 

march and fight together in close ranks. The secret had been 
discovered that such hoplites (as they were called) were superior 
to cavalry ; but it was in Sparta first that their value was fully ap- 
preciated. There they became the main part of the military es- 
tablishment. The city no longer depended chiefly on her nobles 
in time of war; she depended on her whole people. The progress 
of metal-smiths in their trade, which accompanied the general 
industrial advance of Greece, rendered possible this transforma- 
tion in the art of war. Every well-to-do citizen could now provide 
himself with an outfit of armor and go forth to battle in panoply. 1 
The transformation was distinctly levelling and democratic; for 
it placed the noble and the ordinary citizen on an equality in the 
field. 

3 . Internal Development of Sparta and her Institutions. — When 
Sparta emerges into the full light 6f history, we find her under an 
iron discipline, which invades every part of a man's life and con- 
trols all his actions from his cradle to his deathbed. Everything 
is subordinated to the art of war, and the sole aim of the state is 
to create invincible warriors. 

(i) The Land System; Helots. — The whole Spartan people 
formed a military caste; the life of a Spartan citizen was de- 
voted to the service of the state. In order to carry out this ideal 
it was necessary that every citizen should be freed from the care 
of providing for himself and his family. The nobles owned family 
domains of their own; but the Spartan community also came into 
possession of common land, which was divided into a number of 
lots. Each Spartan obtained a lot, which passed from father to 
son, but could not be either sold or divided; thus a citizen could 
never be reduced to poverty. The original inhabitants, whom the 
Lacedaemonians dispossessed and reduced to the state of serfs, 
known as Helots, cultivated the land for their lords. Every year 

1 The metal breastplate had been introduced; metal greaves were worn, a,nd 
thigh-pieces. The round shield borne on the arm had superseded the clumsy 
shoulder-swung shield of the heroic period. 



72 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

the owner of a lot was entitled to receive seventy measures of corn 
for himself, twelve for his wife, and a stated portion of wine and 
fruit. All that the land produced beyond this, the Helot was 
allowed to retain for his own use. Though the Helots were not 
driven by taskmasters, and had the right of acquiring private 
property, their condition seems to have been hard; at all events, 
they were always bitterly dissatisfied and ready to rebel, whenever 
an occasion presented itself. The system of Helotry was a source 
of danger from the earliest times, but especially after the conquest 
of Messenia; and the state of constant military preparation in 
which the Spartans lived may have been partly due to the con- 
sciousness of this peril perpetually at their doors. The Krypteia 
or secret police was instituted — it is uncertain at what date — 
to deal with this danger. Young Spartans were sent into the coun- 
try and empowered to kill every Helot whom they had reason to 
regard with suspicion. By this device, the youths could slay 
dangerous Helots without any scruple or fear of the guilt of man- 
slaughter. But notwithstanding these precautions, serious revolts 
broke out again and again. 

(2) The Military Training. — Thus relieved from the necessity 
of gaining a livelihood, the Spartans devoted themselves to the 
good of the state, and the aim of the state was the cultivation of the 
art of war. Sparta was a large military school. Education, mar- 
riage, the details of daily life were all strictly regulated with a 
view to the maintenance of a perfectly efficient army. Every 
citizen was to be a soldier, and the discipline began from birth. 
When a child was born, it was submitted to the inspection of the 
heads of the tribe, and if they judged it to be unhealthy or weak, 
it was exposed to die on the wild slopes of Mount Taygetus. At 
the age of seven years the boy was consigned to the care of a state- 
officer, and the course of his education was entirely determined 
by the purpose of inuring him to bear hardships, training him 
to endure an exacting discipline, and instilling into his heart a 
sentiment of devotion to the state. The boys, up to the age of 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT OF SPARTA 73 

twenty, were marshalled in a huge school formed on the model 
of an army. 

At the age of twenty the Spartan entered upon military service, 
and was permitted to marry. But he could not yet enjoy 
home-life; he had to live in " barracks " with his companions, and 
could only pay stolen and secret visits to his wife. In his thirtieth 
year, having completed his training, he became a " man," and 
obtained the full rights of citizenship. The Homoioi or peers, 
as the Spartan citizens were called, dined together in tents in the 
Hyacinthian Street. Each member of a common tent made a 
fixed monthly contribution, derived from the produce of his lot, 
consisting of barley, cheese, wine, and figs, and the members of 
the same mess-tent shared the same tent in the field in time of 
war. Three hundred " horsemen," chosen from the Spartan 
youths, formed the king's bodyguard; but though, as their name 
shows, they were originally mounted, in later times they fought 
on foot. The light infantry was supplied by the Periceci and 
Helots. 

(3) The Results oj the Spartan System. — Thus Sparta was a camp 
in which the highest object of every man's life was to be ready at 
any moment to fight with the utmost efficiency for his city. The 
aim of every law, the end of the whole social order, was to fashion 
good soldiers. Private luxury was strictly forbidden; Spartan 
simplicity became proverbial. The individual man, entirely lost 
in the state, had no life of his own; he had no problems of human 
existence to solve for himself. Sparta was not a place for thinkers 
or theorists; the whole duty of man and the highest ideal of life 
were contained for a Spartan in the laws of his city. 

It was inevitable that, as time went on, there should be many 
fallings away, and that some of the harder laws should, by tacit 
agreement, be ignored. From an early period it seems to have 
been a permitted thing for a citizen to acquire land in addition to 
his original lot. As such lands were not, like the original lot, 
inalienable, but could be sold or divided, inequalities in wealth 



74 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

necessarily arose, and the " communism " which we observed in 
the life of the citizens was only superficial. But it was specially 
provided by law that no Spartan should possess wealth in the form 
of gold or silver. This law was at first eluded by the device of 
depositing money in foreign temples, and it ultimately became a 
dead letter; Spartans even gained throughout Greece an evil 
reputation for avarice. 

(4) Origin of the Spartan Institutions. — There is no doubt that 
the Spartan system of discipline grew up by degrees ; yet the whole 
fabric shows an artistic unity which might be thought to argue the 
work of a single mind. And until lately this was generally believed 
to be the case ; some still maintain the belief. A certain Lycurgus 
was said to have framed the Spartan institutions and enacted the 
Spartan laws about the beginning of the ninth century. 

But the grounds for believing that a Spartan lawgiver named 
Lycurgus ever existed are of the slenderest kind. Herodotus states 
that the Spartans declared Lycurgus to have been the guardian of 
one of their early kings, and to have introduced from Crete their 
laws and institutions. But the divergent accounts of this historian's 
contemporaries, who ignore Lycurgus altogether, prove that it 
was simply one of many guesses, and not a generally accepted tra- 
dition. 

The guess was natural, for in Crete, which island was by its 
geographical situation withdrawn from the main course of Greek 
history, there existed very similar institutions among men of Dorian 
stock. There was a population divided into warriors and serfs. 
There was a board of ten annual magistrates (Kooytoi) correspond- 
ing to the ephors; and a council answering to the Gerusia. But 
for the council and the magistracy only nobles were eligible, and 
there were no kings. The real likeness lies in the discipline of 
the youth, which was, like that of Sparta, designed solely for mak- 
ing good warriors, and which enforced on all a similar form of 
barrack life with common meals, with the same strict state regula- 
tion of existence, and a more complete communism. 



SUPREMACY AND DECLINE OF ARGOS 75 

4. The Supremacy and Decline of Argos. The Olympian Games. 

— The rebellion of Messenia had been especially formidable to 
Sparta, because the rebels had been supported by two foreign 
powers, Arcadia and Pisa. The king of Pisa on the Alpheus had 
recently risen to new power with the help of Argos; and Argos 
herself had been playing a prominent part under the leadership 
of her king Pheidon. The reign of this king was the last epoch 
of Argos as active power of first rank. We know little about him, 
and the only action that stands out clearly is his expedition to the 
west. He led an Argive army across Arcadia to the banks of the 
Alpheus, and presided there over the Olympic festival, which now 
for the first time is heard of in the history of Greece. 

The sacred grove of Olympia lay under the wooded mount of 
Cronus, where the river Cladeus flows into the Alpheus, in the 
angle between the two streams. The sanctuary was in the territory 
of Pisa, and there is no doubt that the care of the worship and the 
conduct of the festivals belonged originally to the Pisan community. 
But the men of Elis, the northern neighbors of Pisa, set their hearts 
on having control of the Olympian sanctuary, and as they were the 
stronger, finally succeeded in usurping the conduct of the festival. 
The games at first included foot-races, boxing, and wrestling; 
chariot-races and horse-races were added later. Such contests 
were an ancient institution in Greece. The funeral games of 
Patroclus, described in the Iliad, permit us to infer that they were 
a feature of the ninth century. 

The mythical institution of the games was ascribed to Pelops or 
to Heracles; and when the Eleans usurped the presidency, the 
story gradually took shape that the celebration had been revived 
by the Spartan Lycurgus and the Elean Iphitus in the year 776 B.C., 
and this year was reckoned as the first Olympiad. From that year 
until the visit of Pheidon, the Eleans professed to have presided 
over the feast and their account of the matter won its way into 
general belief. 

It is possible that King Pheidon reorganized the games and in- 



y6 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 




SUPREMACY AND DECLINE OF ARGOS JJ 

augurated a new stage in the history of the festival. At all events, 
at the beginning of the sixth century the festival was no longer an 
event of merely Peloponnesian interest. It had become famous 
wherever the Greek tongue was spoken, and, when the feast tide 
came round in each cycle of four years, there thronged to the banks 
of the Alpheus, from all quarters of the Greek world, athletes and 
horses to compete in the contests, and spectators to behold them. 
During the celebration of the festival a sacred truce was observed, 
and the men of Elis claimed that in those days their territory was 
inviolable. The prize for victory in the games was a wreath of 
wild olive; but rich rewards always awaited the victor when he 
returned home in triumph and laid the Olympian crown in the chief 
temple of his city. The Olympian festival furnished a center where 
Greeks of all parts met and exchanged their ideas and experiences ; 
it was one of the institutions which expressed and quickened the 
consciousness of fellowship among the scattered folks of the Greek 
race; and it became a model, as we shall see, for other festivals 
of the same kind, which aided in promoting a feeling of national 
unity. 

We can see but dimly into the political relations of Pheidon's 
age; but we can discern at least that Sparta lent her countenance 
to Elis in this usurpation, and that Argos, jealous of the growing 
power of Sparta, espoused the cause of Pisa. This was the pur- 
pose of King Pheidon's expedition to Olympia. He took the man- 
agement of the games out of the hands of Elis and restored it to 
Pisa. And for many years Pisa maintained her rights. She 
maintained them as long as Sparta, absorbed in the Messeniad 
strife, had no help to spare for Elis; and during that time she did 
what she could to help the foes of Sparta. But when the revolt was 
suppressed, it was inevitable that Elis should again, with Spartan 
help, win control of the games, for Argos, declining under the 
successors of Pheidon, could give no aid to Pisa. 

The final struggle with Messenia marks the period at which the 
balance of power among the Peloponnesian states begins to shift. 



y8 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

In the seventh century Argos was the leading state. She had 
reduced Mycenae; she had made Tiryns an Argive fort; she had 
defeated Sparta at Hysiae; and there can be little doubt that 
Pheidon's authority extended over all Argos; and possibly his 
influence was felt in JEgma, and on the eastern coast of Laconia. 
But his reign is the last manifestation of the greatness of southern 
Argos. Fifty years after the subjugation of Messenia, the Spar- 
tans became the strongest state in the Peloponnesus, and the 
Argives sank into the position of a second-rate power — always 
able to maintain their independence, always a thorn in the side 
of Sparta, always to be reckoned with as a foe and welcomed as 
a friend, but never leading, dominant, or originative. 

5. Changes in Law. Democratic Movements. — It is clear that 
there is no security that equal justice will be meted out to all, so 
long as the laws by which the judge is supposed to act are not acces- 
sible to all. Naturally, therefore, one of the first demands which 
the people in Greek cities pressed upon their aristocratic govern- 
ments was for a written law. It must be borne in mind that in 
old days deeds which injured only the individual, and did not touch 
the gods of the state, were left to the injured person to deal with 
as he chose or could. The state did not interfere. Even in the 
case of bloodshedding, it devolved upon the kinsfolk of the slain 
man to wreak punishment upon the slayer. Then, as social order 
developed, the state took justice partly into its own hands; and the 
injured man, before he could punish the wrong-doer, was obliged 
to charge him before a judge, who decided the punishment. But 
no crime could come before a judge, unless the injured person 
came forward as accuser, except in a case of bloodshedding. 
It was felt that the shedder of blood was not only impure himself, 
but had also defiled the gods of the community; so that manslaugh- 
ter of every form came under the class of crimes against the reli- 
gion of the state. 

The work of writing down the laws, and fixing customs in legal 
shape, was probably in most cases combined with the work of 



TYRANTS 79 

reforming; and thus the great codifiers of the seventh century were 
also lawgivers. Of these the most famous were the Athenians, 
Dracon, and Solon the Wise. 

In many cases the legislation was accompanied by political 
concessions to the people, and it was part of the lawgiver's task 
to modify the constitution. But for the most part this was only 
the beginning of a long political conflict. Social distress was the 
sharp spur which drove the people on in this effort toward popular 
government. The struggle was in some cases to end in the estab- 
lishment of a democracy; in many cases, the oligarchy succeeded 
in maintaining itself and keeping the people down ; in most cases, 
perhaps, the result was a perpetual oscillation between oli- 
garchy and democracy — an endless series of revolutions, too 
often stained by violence. But though democracy was not every- 
where victorious, — though even the states in which it was most 
firmly established were exposed to the danger of oligarchical con- 
spiracies, — yet everywhere the people aspired to it; and we may 
say that the chief feature of the domestic history of most Greek 
cities, from the end of the seventh century forward, is an endeavor 
to establish or maintain popular government. 

6. Tyrants. — As happens usually, or at least frequently, 
in such circumstances, the popular movement received help from 
within the camp of the adversary. Discontented nobles came 
forward to be the leaders of the discontented masses. But when 
the government was overthrown, the revolution generally resulted 
in a temporary return to monarchy. The mass of the people were 
not yet ripe for taking the power into their own hands; and they 
were generally glad to entrust it to the man who had helped them 
to overthrow the hated government of the nobles. This new kind 
of monarchy did not rest on hereditary right, but on physical 
force. 

Such illegitimate monarchs were called tyrants, to distinguish 
them from the hereditary kings, and this form of monarchy was 
called a tyrannis. The word in itself did not imply that the monarch 



80 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

was bad or cruel; there was nothing self-contradictory in a good 
tyrant, and many tyrants were beneficent. But the isolation of 
these rulers, who, being without the support of legitimacy, depended 
on armed force, so often urged them to be suspicious and cruel 
that " tyrant " inclined to the evil sense in which modern languages 
have adopted it. Yet the Greek dislike of the tyrannis was not 
mainly due to the fact that many tyrants were oppressors. Ar- 
bitrary control was repugnant to the Greek love of freedom. 

The period which saw the fall of the aristocracies is often called 
the age of the tyrants. The tyrannis first came into existence at 
this period ; there was a large crop of tyrants much about the same 
time in different parts of Greece; they all performed the same 
function of overthrowing aristocracies, and in many cases they 
paved the way for democracies. But there is no age in the subse- 
quent history of Greece which did not see the rise of tyrants here 
and there. Tyranny was always with the Greeks. It, as well as 
oligarchy, was a danger by which their democracies were threat- 
ened at all periods. 

Ionia seems to have been the original home of the tyrannis, and 
this may have been partly due to the seductive example of the rich 
court of the Lydian " tyrants " at Sardis. The most famous of 
Ionian tyrants was Thrasybulus of Miletus, under whose rule that 
city held a more brilliant position than ever. In Lesbian Mytilene 
we see the tyrannis, and also a method by which it might be avoided. 
Tyrants rose and fell in rapid succession ; the echoes of hatred and 
jubilation still ring to us from relics of the lyric poems of Alcaeus. 
"Let us drink and reel, forMyrsilus is dead." The poet was a noble 
and a fighter; but in a war with the Athenians on the coast of the 
Hellespont he threw away his shield, like Archilochus, and it 
hung as a trophy at Sigeum. Pittacus, however, who distinguished 
himself for bravery in the same war with Athens, was to be the 
savior of the state. He gained the trust of the people, and was 
elected ruler for a period of ten years in order to heal the sores of 
the city. Pittacus gained the reputation of a wise lawgiver and a 



TYRANTS AT CORINTH 8 1 

firm, moderate ruler. He banished the nobles who opposed him 
— among others the two most famous of all Lesbians, the poets 
Alcsus and Sappho. At the end of ten years he laid down his 
office, to be enrolled after his death in the number of the Seven 
Wise Men. 

7. Tyrants at Corinth. — The ruling clan of the Bacchiads at 657 b.c. 
Corinth was overthrown by Cypselus, who had put himself at the 
head of the people. The Bacchiads were banished and their 
property confiscated; dangerous persons were executed, and 
Cypselus took the reins of government into his own hands. Of 
the rule of Cypselus himself, we know little ; he is variously repre- 
sented as harsh and mild. His son Periander succeeded, and of 
him more is recorded. The general features of the Cypselid tyrannis 
were a vigorous colonial and commercial policy, and the encourage- 
ment of art. 

One of the earliest triumphs of Cypselus was probably the reduc- 
tion of Corcyra, which had formed a fleet of its own and had grown 
to be a rival of its mother in the Ionian Seas. It 
has already been mentioned that the earliest 
battle of ships between two Greek states was 
supposed to have been fought between Corinth 
and Corcyra. The attempt of Corinth to form 

a colonial empire was an interesting experiment. 

1 Coin of Cor- 

The idea of Cypselus corresponded to our mod- INTH sixth- 

ern colonial system, in which the colonies are in Fifth Cen- 

a relation of dependence to the mother-countrv, TURY (Ob- 

r J verse). Hel- 

and not to that of the Greeks, in which the col- meted Head 

ony was an independent sovereign state. Geo- of Goddess 
graphical conditions alone rendered it out of the 
question to apply the new principle to Syracuse, but the suc- 
cess at Corcyra was followed up by a development of Corinthian 
influence in the northwest of Greece. Apollonia was planted on 
the coast of Epirus; and, farther north, Corcyra, under the aus- 
pices of her mother-city, colonized Epidamnus. In another quar- 

G 




82 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

ter of the Greek world, a son of Periander founded Potidaea in 
the Chalcidic peninsula. 

Cypselus and Periander did their utmost to promote the com- 
mercial activity of their city. In the middle of the seventh century 
the rival Euboean cities, Chalcis and Eretria, were the most im- 
portant merchant states of Greece. But fifty years later they had 
somewhat declined; Corinth and ^Egina were taking their place. 
Their decline was brought about by their rivalry, which led to an 
exhausting war. 

While the most successful of the tyrants, like Periander, furthered 
material civilization, they often manifested an interest in intellec- 
tual pursuits, and did something for the promotion of art. A 
new form of poetry called the dithyramb was developed at Corinth 
during this period, the rude strains which were sung at vintage- 
feasts in honor of Dionysus being moulded into an artistic shape. 
The discovery was attributed to Arion, a mythical minstrel, who 
was said to have leaped into the sea under the compulsion of 
mariners who robbed him, and to have been carried to Corinth 
on the back of a dolphin, the fish of Dionysus. 

In architecture, Corinthian skill had made an important con- 
tribution to the development of the temple. In the course of the 
seventh century, men began to translate into stone the old shrine 
of brick and wood ; and stone temples arose in all parts of the Greek 
world — the lighter " Ionic " form in Ionia, the heavier " Doric " 
in the elder Greece. By the invention of roof-tiles, Corinthian 
workmen rendered it practicable to give a considerable inclina- 
tion to the roof; and thus in each gable of the temple a large 
triangular space was left, inviting the sculptor to fill it with a story 
in marble. The pediment, as we name it, was called by the Greeks 
the " eagle "; and thus it was said that Corinth had discovered 
the eagle (derds). 

The great tyrant died and was succeeded by his nephew Psam- 
metichus, who, having ruled for a few years, was slain. With him 
the tyranny of the Cypselids came to an end, and an aristocracy 



TYRANTS OF MEGARA 



83 



of merchants was firmly established. At the same time the Cyp- 
selid colonial system partly broke down, forCorcyra became inde- 
pendent and hostile, while the Ambraciots set up a democracy. 
But over her other colonies Corinth retained her influence, and 
was on friendly terms with all of them. 

8. Tyrants of Megara. — Some time after the inauguration of 
the Cypselid tyranny, a similar constitutional change occurred 




Pillars of an Old Temple at Corinth 



at Megara, and a friendship sprang up between the two cities. 
The mercantile development of Megara, famous for her weavers, 
had enriched the nobles, who held the political power and oppressed 
the peasants with a grinding despotism. Then Theagenes arose as 
a deliverer, and made himself tyrant. Having obtained a body- 
guard, he surprised and massacred the aristocrats. His term of 
tyranny was marked by one solid work, the construction of an 



84 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 

aqueduct. He was overthrown, and then followed a political 
struggle between the aristocracy, which had regained its power, 
and the people. Concessions were wrung from the government. 
The capitalists were forced to pay back the interest which they 
had extorted, while the political disabilities were relieved by ex- 
tending citizenship to the country population and admitting the 
tillers of the soil to the Assembly. These conflicts and social 
changes are reflected in the poems of Theognis, who meditated on 
and lamented them. He judges severely the short-sighted, greedy 
policy of his own caste, and sees that it is likely to lead to another 
tyranny. On the other hand, his sympathies are with an aris- 
tocratic form of government, and he discerns with dismay the 
growth of democratic tendencies. He cries : — 

Unchanged the walls, but, ah, how changed the folk ! 

The base, who knew erstwhile nor law nor right, 
But dwelled like deer, with goatskin for a cloak, 

Are now ennobled ; and, O sorry plight ! 

The nobles are made base in all men's sight. 

9. Tyrants at Sicyon. — The rise of a tyranny in agricultural 
Sicyon seems to have occurred much about the same time as at 
mercantile Corinth. The first of the house of whom we have any 
historical record is Cleisthenes, who ruled in the first quarter of 
the sixth century. He was engaged in a war with Argos, which 
claimed lordship over Sicyon. He would not permit rhapsodists 
to recite the Homeric poems at Sicyon, because there was so much 
in them about Argos and Argives. 

Cleisthenes married his daughter Agarista to an Athenian noble, 
Megacles, of the famous family of the Alcmaeonids. A legend is 
told of the wooing of Agarista, which illustrates the tyrant's wealth 
and hospitality and the social ideas of the age. On the occasion 
of an Olympian festival at which he had himself won in the chariot- 
race, Cleisthenes made proclamation to the Greeks that all who 
aspired to the hand of his daughter should assemble at Sicyon, 



THE SACRED WAR. THE PANHELLENIC GAMES 85 

sixty days hence, and be entertained at his court for a year. At 
the end of the year he would decide who was most worthy of his 
daughter. Then there came to Sicyon all the Greeks who had a 
high opinion of themselves or of their families. Cleisthenes 
tested their accomplishments for a year. He tried them in gym- 
nastic exercises, but laid most stress on their social qualities. The 
two Athenians, Hippocleides and Megacles, pleased him best, but 
to Hippocleides of these two he most inclined. The day appointed 
for the choice of the husband came, and Cleisthenes sacrificed 
a hundred oxen and feasted all the suitors and all the folk of 
Sicyon. After the dinner, the wooers competed in music and 
general conversation. Hippocleides was the most brilliant, and, 
as his success seemed assured, he bade the flute-player strike up, 
and began to dance. Cleisthenes was surprised and disconcerted 
at this behavior, and his surprise became disgust when Hippo- 
cleides, who thought he was making a decisive impression, called 
for a table and danced Spartan and Athenian figures on it. The 
host controlled his feelings, but, when Hippocleides proceeded to 
dance on his head, he could no longer resist, and called out, "O 
son of Tisander, you have danced away your bride ! " But the 
Athenian only replied, " Hippocleides careth not," and danced on. 
Megacles was chosen for Agarista, and rich presents were given 
to the disappointed suitors. 

10. The Sacred War. The Panhellenic Games. — The most 
important achievement of Cleisthenes, and that which won him 
most fame in the Greek world, was his championship of the Del- 
phic oracle. 

The temple of Delphi, or Pytho, lay in the territory of the Pho- 
cian town of Crisa. The sanctuary of " rocky Pytho " was ter- 
raced on a steep slope, hard under the bare sheer cliffs of Parnas- 
sus, looking down upon the deep glen of the Pleistus, — an austere 
and majestic scene, supremely fitted for the utterance of the oracles 
of God. The men of Crisa claimed control over the Delphians 
and the oracle, and levied dues on the visitors who came to consult 



86 GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 



C. 590 B.C. 










Delphi 

CuroTieiv 



the deity. The Delphians desired to free themselves from the 
control of the Crisaeans, and they naturally looked for help to the 
great league of the north, in which the Thessalians, the ancient 
foes of the Phocians, were now the dominant member. The folks 
who belonged to this religious union were the " dwellers around " 
the shrine of Demeter at Anthela, close to the pass of Thermopylae; 
and hence they were called the Amphictions of Anthela or Pylae. 
The league included theLocrians, Phocians, Boeotians, and Athen- 
ians, as well as 
the Dorians, Mali- 
ans, Dolopians, 
Enianes, Thessali- 
ans, Perrhaebians, 
and Magnetes. 

The Amphicti- 
ons espoused 
warmly the cause 
of Apollo and his 
Delphian servants, 
and declared a 
holy war against 
the men of Crisa 
who had violated 
the sacred territory. And Delphi found a champion in the south 
as well as in the north. The tyrant of Sicyon across the gulf went 
forth against the impious city. As Crisa was situated in such a 
strong position, commanding the road from the sea to the sanctu- 
ary, the utter destruction of the city was the only conclusion 
of the war which could lead to the assured independence of 
the oracle. The Amphictions and Sicyonians took the city 
after a sore struggle, razed it to the ground, and slew the 
inhabitants. The Crisaean plain was dedicated to the god; 
solemn and heavy curses were pronounced against whosoever 
should till it. 




U If 






The Sacred War and Delphic Amphictiony 



THE SACRED WAR. THE PAXHELLEXIC GAMES 87 

One of the consequences of this war was the establishment of 
a close connection between Delphi and the Amphictiony of Anthela. 
The Delphic shrine became a second place of meeting, and the 
league was often called the Delphic Amphictiony. The temple 
was taken under the protection of the league; the administration 
of the property of the god was placed in the hands of the sacred 
councillors, two for each member of the league; who met twice a 
year in spring and autumn, both at Anthela and at Delphi. The 
oracle and the priestly nobles of Delphi thus won a position of 
independence; their great career of prosperity and power began. 
The Pythian games were now reorganized on a more splendid 582 b.c. 
scale, and the ordering of them was one of the duties of the Am- 
phictions. The festival became, like the Olympian, a four-yearly 
celebration, being held in the middle of each Olympiad. 

Much about the same time two other Panhellenic festivals were 
instituted at the Isthmus and at Xemea. Both the Isthmian and 
the Nemean festivals were two-yearly. Thus from the beginning of 
the sixth century four Panhellenic festivals are celebrated, two in 
the Peloponnesus, one on the Isthmus, one in the north; and 
throughout the course of Grecian history the prestige of these 
gatherings never wanes. 

These four Panhellenic festivals helped to maintain a feeling 
of fellowship among all the Greeks, and Delphi, the meeting-place 
for pilgrims and envoys from all quarters of the Greek world, 
helped to keep distant cities in touch with one another. These 
two forces promoted the conception of a common Hellenic race with 
common interests. About the middle of the seventh century the 
name " Panhellenes " was used in a poem by Archilochus, and the 
Homeric Catalogue of the Ships, a work of the seventh century, 
gives to almost every state in Greece a share in the great Hellenic 
enterprise against Troy. 

We saw that the Boeotians were a member of the northern 
Amphictiony. The unity of Bceotia itself had taken the form of 
a federation, in which Thebes was the dominant power. This 



88 



GROWTH OF SPARTA. FALL OF ARISTOCRACIES 



unity had its weak points; its maintenance depended upon the 
power of Thebes; some of the cities were reluctant members. 
Orchomenus held out for independence till forced to join about the 
end of the seventh century. Above all, Plataea chafed; she had 




,3 »i? 

Longitude East, 23° from Greenwich 






BORMAY .ENGRAVING. CO., N.Y.; 



BCEOTIA 

kept herself pure from mixture with the Boeotian settlers, and 
her whole history — of which some remarkable episodes will pass 
before us — may be regarded as an isolated continuation of the 
ancient struggle between the elder Greek inhabitants of the land 
and the Boeotian conquerors. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 77-79) 

1. The Spartan Constitution. 

Bury, 120-125. Holm, I, 173-181. 

2. Spartan System of Training. 

Curtius, I, 215-228. Holm, I, 181-185. Grote, G., Part II, ch. vi. 
(Consult Index.) 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 89 

Sources. Plutarch, 1 Lycurgus. Herodotus, Book II, chs. 54-57. 

3. Greek Games and Oracles. 

Curtius, II, 27-35. Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History, 273-302. 
Holm, I, ch. xix, contains a detailed account of this topic. 

4. Tyrants. 

Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece, 210-218. Holm, I, ch. xx. Abbott, 
E., Greece, I, 366 and the following pages, contain accounts 
of the tryannies in detail, from which selection may be made. 

1 There are so many different editions of Plutarch in use that it seems unwise 
to give specific references to pages. 



CHAPTER V 

THE UNION OF ATTICA AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE ATHE- 
NIAN DEMOCRACY 

i. The Union of Attica. — Attica, like its neighbor Bceotia 
and other countries of Greece, was once occupied by a number 
of independent states. But of all the lordships between Mount 
Cithaeron and Cape Sunium the most important was Athens, the 
stronghold in the midst of the Cephisian plain, five miles from 
the sea. Even in the bronze age it was one of the strong places 
of Greece. There still remain pieces of the wall of gray-blue 
limestone with which the Pelasgian lords of the castle secured 
the edge of their precipitous hill. This citadel — the Acropolis — 
is joined to the Areopagus by a high saddle, which forms its 
natural approach, and on this side walls were so constructed that 
the main western entrance to the citadel lay through nine succes- 
sive gates. 
The first Greeks who won the Pelasgic Acropolis were probably 
Trad, date the Cecropes, and the later Athenians were always ready to de- 
scribe themselves as the sons of Cecrops. This Cecrops was num- 
bered among the imaginary prehistoric kings of Athens; he was 
nothing more than the fabulous ancestor of the Cecropes. But 
the time came when other Greek dwellers in Attica won the upper 
hand over the Cecropes, and brought with them the worship of 
Athena. The Acropolis became Athenai; the folk — whether 
Cecropes or Pelasgians — who dwelled in the villages around it, 
on the banks of the Ilisus and Eridanus, became Athenians. They 
became Athenians in the full sense only after another great step 
in their history — the o-woi/aoyxos or union of the small yet separate 

90 



FOUNDATION OF THE ATHENIAN COMMONWEALTH 9 1 

communities, which was annually commemorated by the feast of 
the vwoUia. Athens was no longer the head of a league like 
Thebes in Bceotia, nor the mistress of subject communities. The 
man of Marathon or any village in Attica was precisely on a level 
with a dweller in Athens herself. We do not know when this 
step was achieved, nor by whom. In after-times the Athenians 
thought that the hero Theseus, whom they had enrolled in the list 
of their early kings, 1 was the author of the union of their country. 



AG t N A 1 * 




Athena and Poseidon on a Vase painted by Amasis 



2. Foundation of the Athenian Commonwealth. — At Athens, 
as in the other Greek states, there existed in early days a royalty, 
which passed into an aristocracy and then into a republic. The 

1 Old Attic tradition (preserved by Herodotus) counted only four kings 
before Theseus, viz. Cecrops, Erechtheus, Pandion, ^Egeus. 



92 



THE UNION OF ATTICA 



first step in the limitation of kingly power was the institution of 
a polemarch or commander of the army, elected by the nobles. 
The next was the establishment of an archon or regent, who usurped 
most of the kingly functions. Acastus was the first regent, created 
by his kinsmen the Medontids ; and he held office for life. All 
archons after him swore that they would be true to their oath even 
as Acastus. Next came the limitation of the archonship to a period 
of ten years, though for some time still the archon must be a Me- 




ENGLISH MILES Q 

0.5 10 



4 '-feORMAY E. CO., N.Y, 



Attica 

dontid. This restriction of choice was abolished, but the first cer- 
683-682 b.c. tain date which we have is 683-682 B.C., when the archonship or 
regency became a yearly office. 

The kings were not formally abolished, but continued to hold 
office for ceremonial purposes, and to the last the title was retained 
in that of the archon basileus. 

In the period of these changes took place the union or syncecism 



THE ARISTOCRACY IN SEVENTH CENTURY 93 

of Attica. The united people of all the separate districts and vil- 
lages were grouped into four tribes. The brotherhoods or phratries 
were rearranged under the tribes, three to each, making twelve 
phratries in all. At the head of each tribe was a " tribe king." 

3. The Aristocracy in the Seventh Century. — (1) The Archons. 
— Early in the seventh century, then, the Athenian republic was 
an aristocracy, and the executive was in the hands of three annually 
elected officers, the archon, the king, and the polemarch. The 
archon was the supreme judge in all civil suits. He held the chief 
place among the magistrates, and his name appeared at the head 
of official lists, whence he was called eponymiis. The polemarch 
had judicial duties, besides being commander-in-chief of the army; 
he judged all cases in which non-citizens were involved. The 
king's functions were confined to the management of the state- 
religion, and the conduct of certain judicial cases connected with 
religion, which came before the Council of which he was president. 

(2) The Council of the Areopagus. — The Bule or Council of 
Elders came afterward to be called at Athens the Council of the 
Areopagus, to distinguish it from other councils of later growth. 
This name was derived from its place of meeting for a certain 
purpose. According to early custom, murder and manslaughter 
were not regarded as crimes against the state, but the family of 
the slain man might either slay the slayer or accept a compensa- 
tion. But gradually, the belief gained ground that he who shed 
blood was impure and needed cleansing. Accordingly, when a 
murderer satisfied the kinsfolk of the murdered by paying a fine, 
he had also to submit to a process of purification, and satisfy the 
gods and the Erinyes or Furies, who were, in the original concep- 
tion, the souls of the dead clamoring for vengeance. And when 
a member of a community was impure, the stain drew down the 
anger of the gods upon the whole community, if the unclean were 
not driven out. Hence it came about that the state undertook 
the conduct of criminal justice. The council itself formed the 
court, and the proceedings were closely associated with the wor- 



94 THE UNION OF ATTICA 

ship of the Semnai. These Chthonian goddesses had a sanctuary, 
which served as a refuge for him whose hand was stained with 
bloodshed, on the northeast side of the Areopagus, outside the 
city wall. On this rugged spot the council held its sittings to deal 
with cases of murder, violence with murderous intent, poisoning, 
and incendiarism. 

(3) Classes in Athens. — Under the rule of the kings and the 
aristocracies, the free population fell into three classes: the Eu- 
patridtz or nobles; the Georgi or peasants, who cultivated their 
own farms ; and the Demiurgi (public workers) — those who 
lived by trade or commerce. But besides these classes of citizens, 
who had the right of attending the Assembly, there was a mass 
of freemen who were not citizens, such as the agricultural laborers, 
who, having no land of their own, cultivated the estates of the 
nobles. 

4. The Timocracy. — Although Attica seems to have taken no 
part in the colonizing movements of the eighth and seventh cen- 
turies, the Athenians shared in the trading ac- 
tivities of that period. The cultivation of the 
olive was becoming a feature of Attica, and 
its oil a profitable article of exportation. At 
the same time, Attic potters were actively 
developing their industry on lines of their 
own. It is easy to see how participation in 
trade began to undermine the foundations 

Athens of the ar i st0 cracy of birth. The nobles en- 
(Early). Obverse, . 

Head of Pallas g a 8 eo - in mercantile ventures with various 

success, some becoming richer, and others 
poorer; and the industrial folk increased in wealth and im- 
portance. The result would ultimately be that wealth would 
assert itself as well as birth, both socially and politically. In 
the second half of the seventh century we find that the aris- 
tocracy had changed into a timocracy, or constitution, in which 
political rights depend entirely on wealth. For we find the 




THE TIMOCRACY * 95 

people divided into three classes, according to their wealth. The 
principle of division was the annual yield of landed property, 
in corn, oil, or wine. The highest class was the Pentacosiomedimni, 
including those whose land produced at least so many measures 
(medimni) of corn and so many measures (metretae) of oil or wine 
as together amounted to five hundred measures. The second 
class included those whose property produced more than three 
hundred, but less than five hundred, such measures. These were 
called Knights, and so represented roughly those who could main- 
tain a horse and take their part in war as mounted soldiers. The 
minimum income of the third class was two hundred measures, 
and their name, Zeugitai or Teamsters, shows that they were well- 
to-do peasants who could till their land with a pair of oxen. The 
chief magistracies of archon, king, and polemarch were confined 
to the first class, but the principle was admitted that a successful 
man, although not a Eupatrid (noble) was eligible for the highest c . 640 b.c. 
offices. It is probable that the institution of the Thesmothetce also 
marks a step in the self-assertion of the lower classes. The 
Thesmothetae were a college of six judges elected annually, who 
managed the whole judicial system of Athens. They were soon 
associated with the three chief magistrates — the archon, basileus, 
and polemarch; and the nine came to form a sort of college and 
were called the Nine Archons. 

Outside these classes were the smaller peasants who had land 
of their own, of which, however, the produce did not amount to 
two hundred measures of corn or oil, and the humbler handi- 
craftsmen. These were called Thetes, the name being perverted 
from its proper meaning of " laborers." The Thetes were citizens, 
but had no political rights. Yet as the conditions of a growing 
maritime trade led to the development of a navy, and as the duty 
of serving as marines in the penteconters mainly devolved upon 
the Thetes, this gave them a new significance in the state. The 
democracy of Athens was always closely connected with her sea 
power. And though the economic changes, caused in the seventh 



96 THE UNION OF ATTICA 

century by the invention of money, led to much hardship and social 
discontent, still an event happened about thirty years before the 
end of the century which shows that the peasants were still loyal 
to the existing constitution. 
c. 632 b.c. 5. The Conspiracy of Cylon. — A certain Cylon, of noble family, 

f married the daughter of Theagenes, tyrant of Megara and, with 
Megarian help, tried to make himself master of the city. Cylon 
enlisted in his enterprise a number of noble youth, and a band 
of Megarian soldiers sent by Theagenes; he had no support 
among the people. He succeeded in seizing the Acropolis, but 
the sight of foreign soldiers effectually quenched any lurking 
sympathy that any of the Athenians might have felt for an effort 
to overthrow the government. Cylon was blockaded in the citadel, 
and, after a long siege, he escaped with his brother from the for- 
tress. The rest were soon constrained to capitulate. They sought 
refuge in the temple of Athena Polias, and left it when the archons 
promised to spare their lives. But Megacles, of the Alcmseonid 
family, was archon this year; and at his instigation the conspira- 
tors were put to death. Such a violation of a solemn pledge to 
the suppliants who had trusted in the protection of the gods was 
an insult to the gods themselves; and the city was under a curse 
till the pollution should be removed. This view was urged by 
the secret friends of Cylon and those who hated the Alcmseonids. 
And so it came to pass that while Cylon, his brother, and their 
descendants were condemned to perpetual banishment, the Alc- 
masonids and those who had acted with them were also tried on 
the charge of sacrilege and condemned to a perpetual exile, 
with confiscation of their property. The banishment of the Alc- 
maeonids had consequences in the practical politics of Athens 
two hundred years later. 

6. The Laws of Dracon. — The outbreak of a war with Megara, 
in consequence of the plot of Cylon, aggravated the distress of 
the rural population ; for the Attic coasts suffered from the depre- 
dations of the enemy, and the Megarian market was closed to the 



THE LEGISLATION OF SOLON 97 

oil-trade. And, probably to prevent an outbreak, it was decided 
that a code of law should be drawn up and written down. Dracon 
was appointed an extraordinary legislator (thesmothetes) , and 
empowered to codify and rectify the existing law. We know 
only the provisions of that part of his criminal law which dealt 
with the shedding of blood; and his name became proverbial 
for a severe lawgiver. An Athenian orator won credit for his 
epigram that Dracon's laws were written, not in ink, but in blood. 
This idea arose from the fact that certain small offenses, such as 
stealing cabbage, were punished by death. A broader view, 
however, of Dracon's code will modify this estimate. He drew 
careful distinctions between murder and various kinds of acciden- 
tal or justifiable manslaughter; and though, being appointed by 
the aristocracy, he was bound to provide for the interests 
of the rich power-holding class, it was at all events an enor- 
mous gain for the poor that those interests should be defined in 
writing. 

7. The Legislation of Solon. — Dracon's code was something, 
but it did not touch the root of the evil. Every year the oppressive- 
ness of the rich few and the impoverishment of the small farmer 
were increasing. Without capital, and obliged to borrow money, 
which was still very scarce, 1 the small proprietors mortgaged their 
lands, which fell into the hands of capitalists, who lent money at 
ruinous interest. The condition of the free laborers or hektemori 
was even more deplorable. The sixth part of the produce, which 
was their wage, no longer sufficed, under the new economical 
conditions, to support life, and they were forced into borrowing 
from their masters. The interest was high, and the person of the 
borrower was forfeited to the lender in case of inability to pay. 
Thus while the wealthy few were becoming wealthier and greedier, 
the small proprietors were becoming landless, and the landless free- 

1 The value of silver at this time may be judged from the fact that a sheep 
cost a drachma, a bushel of barley a drachma, an ox five drachmae. (A drachma 
= about 20 cents.) 
H 



98 THE UNION OF ATTICA 

men were becoming slaves. And the evil was aggravated by unjust 
judgments, and the perversion of law in favor of the rich and pow- 
erful. The people were bitter against their remorseless oppressors 
and only wanted a leader to rebel. 

The catastrophe, however, was averted by the mediation of 
an eminent citizen — Solon, the son of Execestides, a noble con- 
nected with the house of the Medontids. He was a merchant, 
and belonged to the wealthiest class in the state. He had imbued 
himself with Ionic literature, and had mastered the art of writing 
verse in the Ionic idiom. We are fortunate enough to possess 
portions of poems — political pamphlets — which he published 
for the purpose of guiding public opinion; and thus we have his 
view of the situation in his own words. The more moderate of 
the nobles seem to have seen the danger and the urgent need of 
a new order of things; and thus it came to pass that Solon was 
594 b.c. solicited to undertake the work of reform. He was elected archon, 

with extraordinary legislative powers; and instead of making 
the usual declaration of the chief magistrate, that he would protect 
the property of all men undiminished, he proclaimed that all 
mortgages and debts by which the debtor's person or land was 
pledged were annulled, and that all those who had become slaves 
for debt were free. By this proclamation the Athenians " shook 
off their burdens," and this first act of Solon's social reform was 
called the Seisachtheia. The great deliverance was celebrated 
by a public feast. 

The character of the remedial measures of Solon is imperfectly 
known. After the canceling of old debts, he passed a law which 
forbade debtors to be enslaved ; and he fixed a limit for the measure 
of land which could be owned by a single person, so as to prevent 
the growth of dangerously large estates. These measures hit the 
rich hard, and created discontent with the reformer; while, on 
the other hand, he was far from satisfying the desires and hopes of 
the masses. He would not confiscate and redistribute the estates 
of the wealthy, as many wished. And, though he rescued the 



CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS OF SOLON 99 

free laborer from bondage, he made no change in the working-on- 
share system, so that the condition of these landless freemen 
was improved only in so far as they could not be enslaved. 

8. The Constitutional Reforms of Solon, and the Foundations 
of Democracy. — But Solon's title to fame as one of the great 
statesmen of Europe rests upon his reform of the constitution. 
The Athenian commonwealth did not actually become a democ- 
racy till many years later; but Solon not only laid the foundations 
— he shaped the framework. At first sight, indeed, the state 
as he reformed it might seem little more than an aristocracy of 
wealth — a timocracy — with certain democratic tendencies. 
He retained the old graduation of the people in classes, according 
to property. But he added the Thetes as a fourth class, and gave 
it certain political rights. On the three higher classes devolved 
the public burdens, and they served as cavalry, or as hoplites. 
The Thetes were employed as light-armed troops, or as marines. 
It is probable that Solon made little or no change in regard to the 
offices which were open to each class. The Thetes were not eli- 
gible to any of the offices of state, but they were admitted to take 
part in the meetings of the Ecclesia, and this gave them a voice 
in the election of the magistrates. 

(1) The Courts : the Helicea. — But the radical measure of 
Solon was his constitution of the courts of justice. He composed 
a court out of all the citizens, including the Thetes; and as the 
panels of judges were enrolled by lot, the poorest citizen might 
have his turn. Any magistrate on laying down his office could 
be accused before the people in these courts; and thus the in- 
stitution of popular courts invested the people with a supreme 
control over the administration. The people, sitting in sections 
as sworn judges, were called the Heliaa, — as distinguished from 
the Assembly, in which they gathered to pass laws or choose magis- 
trates, but were required to take no oath. At first the archons 
were not deprived of their judicial powers, and the heliaea acted 
as a court of appeal; but by degrees only the proceedings prelim- 






IOO THE UNION OF ATTICA 

inary to a trial were left to the archons, and the heliaea became 
both the first and the final court. 

The constitution of the judicial courts out of the whole people 
was the secret of democracy which Solon discovered. We can 
hardly hesitate to regard Solon as the founder of the Athenian 
democracy. He deprived the Council of the Areopagus of its 
deliberative functions, so that it could no longer take any direct 
part in administration and legislation. But, on the other hand, he 
gave it wide and undefined powers of control over the magistrates, 
and a censorial authority over the citizens. Its judicial and 
religious functions it retained. Henceforward the nine archons 
at the end of their year of office became life-members of the Coun- 
cil of the Areopagus ; and this was the manner in which the Coun- 
cil was recruited. Thus the Areopagites were virtually appointed 
by the people in the Assembly, which elected the archons. 

(2) The Council. — Having removed the Council of the Areopa- 
gus to this place of dignity, above and almost outside the con- 
stitution, Solon was obliged to create a new body to prepare the 
business for the assembly. This new council which Solon in- 
stituted consisted of four hundred members; a hundred being 
taken from each of the four tribes, either chosen by the tribe itself 
or, more probably, picked by lot. All citizens of the three higher 
classes were eligible; the Thetes alone were excluded. 

(3) Election by Lot. — The use of lot for the purpose of appoint- 
ing public officers was a feature of Solon's reforms. According 
to men's ideas in those days, lot committed the decision to the gods. 
It was doubtless as a security against the undue influence of clans 
and parties that Solon used it. He applied it to the appointment 
of the chief magistrates themselves. But, religious though he 
was, he could not be blind to the danger of taking no human pre- 
cautions against the falling of the lot upon an incompetent candi- 
date, and he therefore mixed the two methods of lot and election. 
Forty candidates were elected, ten from each tribe, by the voice 
of their tribesmen; and out of these the nine archons were picked 
by lot. 



EFFECTS OF LEGISLATION OF SOLON 10 1 

9. Effects of the Legislation of Solon. — Solon sought to keep 
the political balance steady by securing that each of the four 
tribes should have an equal share in the government. Yet the 
gravest danger ahead was in truth not the strife of poor and rich, 
but the deep-rooted and bitter jealousies which existed between 
many of the clans. While the clan had the tribe behind it and the 
tribe possessed political weight, such feuds might at any moment 
cause a civil war or a revolution. But it was reserved for a future 
lawgiver to grapple with this problem. 

One of Solon's first acts was to repeal all the legislation of Dracon, 
except the laws relating to manslaughter. His own laws were 
inscribed on wooden tables and kept in the public hall. 

Solon had done his work boldly, but he had done it constitu- 
tionally. He had not made himself a tyrant, as he might easily 
have done, and as many expected him to do. On the contrary, 
one purpose of his reform was to forestall the necessity, and pre- 
vent the possibility, of a tyranny. To a superficial observer, 
caution seemed the note of his reforms, and men were surprised, 
and many disgusted, by his cautiousness. When he laid down his 
office, he was assailed by complaints; but he refused to entertain 
the idea of any modifications in his measures. Thinking that the 
reforms would work better in the absence of the reformer, he left 
Athens soon after his archonship and traveled for ten years. 
Though the remnants of his poems are fragmentary, though the 
recorded events of his life are meager, and though the details 
of his legislation are dimly known and variously interpreted, the 
personality of Solon leaves a distinct impression on our minds. 
We know enough to see in him an embodiment of the ideal of 
intellectual and moral excellence of the early Greeks, and the great- 
est of their wise men. 

Solon's social reforms inaugurated a permanent improvement. 
But his political measures, which he intended as a compromise, 
displeased many. Party strife broke out again bitterly soon after 
his archonship, and only to end, after thirty years, in the tyranny 



102 THE UNION OF ATTICA 

which it had been his dearest object to prevent. The two great 
parties were those who were in the main satisfied with the new 
constitution of Solon, and those who disliked its democratic side 
and desired to return to the aristocratic government which he had 
subverted. The latter consisted chiefly of Eupatrids and were 
known as the men of the Plain. The opposite party of the Coast 
included the bulk of the middle classes, the peasants as well as 
the Demiurgi, who were bettered by the changes of Solon. They 
were led by Megacles, son of Alcmaeon, the same Megacles who 
married Agarista. For one of Solon's measures was an act which 
permitted the return of the Alcmaeonids. 

TOPICS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 79) 

1. The Athenian Constitution. 

Bury, 163-180. Holm, I, 376-384. 

2. Solon and his Legislation. 

Bury, 180-190. Holm, I, 387-395. Cox, G. W., Greek Statesmen, 

Sources. Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, 1-31. Plutarch, Solon. Herod- 
otus, Book I, 29-33. 



CHAPTER VI 

GROWTH OF ATHENS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 

i. The Conquest of Salamis. — Almost equally distant from 
Athens and Megara, parted by a narrow water from both, Salamis 
in the hands of either must be a constant menace to the other. 
The possession of Salamis must decide the future history of both 
Megara and Athens. At this period Megara, with her growing 
colonial connections and her expanding. trade, was a strong state 
and a formidable neighbor. The conspiracy of Cylon furnished 629 b.c. 
an occasion of war. Theagenes sent his ships to harry the Attic 
coasts. The Athenians sought to occupy Salamis, but all their 
efforts to gain a permanent footing failed, and they abandoned the 
attempt in despair. Years passed away. At length Solon saw 
that the favorable hour had come. He composed a stirring poem 
which began: " I came myself as a herald from lovely Salamis, 
but with song on my lips instead of common speech." He blamed 
the peace policy of the " men who let slip Salamis," as dishonor- 
able; and cried, "Arise, and come to Salamis, to win that fair 
island and undo our shame." His appeal moved the hearts of 
his countrymen to a national effort, and an Athenian army went 
forth to lay the first stone of their country's greatness. 

An intimate friend of Solon took part in the enterprise, — Pisis- 
tratus, son of Hippocrates. He helped the expedition to a suc- 
cessful issue. Not only was the disputed island wrested from 
Megara, but he captured the port of Nisaea over against the island. 
And though Nisaea was subsequently restored when peace was 
made, Salamis became permanently annexed to Attica as her first c 570 b.c. 
transmarine possession. The island was afterward divided in 

103 



104 GROWTH OF ATHENS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 

lots among Athenian citizens, who were called cleruchs or " lot- 
holders." 

The conquest of Salamis was a decisive event for Athens. Her 
territory was now rounded off ; she had complete command of the 
landlocked Eleusinian bay; it was she who now threatened Megara. 
2. Athens under Pisistratus. — Pisistratus, the conqueror of 
Nisaea, was the hero of the day. By practicing popular arts, he 
ingratiated himself with those extreme democrats who were out- 
side both the Plain and the Coast. He thus organized a new party 
which was called the Hill, as it largely consisted of the poor Hills- 
men of the highlands of Attica. With this party at his back, Pisis- 
tratus aimed at grasping the supreme power. One day he appeared 
in the agora, wounded, he said, by a foul attack of his political 
foes; and he showed wounds which he bore. In the Assembly, 

561-0 b.c. packed by the Hillsmen, a bodyguard of fifty clubsmen was voted 
to him. Having secured his bodyguard, — the first step in a ty- 
rant's progress, — Pisistratus seized the Acropolis, and made him- 
self master of the state. 

It was the fate of Solon to live just long enough to see the estab- 
lishment of the tyranny which he dreaded. He survived but a 
short time under Pisistratus, who at least treated the old man with 
respect. 

55 6 -555 b.c. At the end of about five years the other two parties united 
against Pisistratus and succeeded in driving him out. But new 
disunion followed, and Megacles, the leader of the Coast, seems 
to have quarreled not only with the Plain, but with his own party. 
At all events, he sought a reconciliation with Pisistratus and under- 
took to help him back to the tyranny on condition that the tyrant 
wedded his daughter. By a trick Pisistratus deceived the com- 

550-549 b.c. mon people and returned to Athens; but the coalition did not last 
long. For Pisistratus treated his wife with neglect; which so 
enraged Megacles when he heard of it, that he made common cause 
with the tyrant's enemies and succeeded in driving Pisistratus 

549 b.c. out a second time. 



ATHENS UNDER PISISTRATUS 



105 



The second exile lasted about ten years, and Pisistratus spent 
it in forming new connections in Macedonia. He exploited 
the gold mines of Mount Pangaeus near the Strymon, and formed 
a force of mercenary soldiers, thus providing himself with money 
and men to recover his position at Athens. When he landed at 
Marathon, his adherents nocked to his standard. The citizens 
who were loyal to the constitutional government marched forth, 
and were defeated in battle at Pallene. Resistance was at an 
end, and once more Pisistratus had the power in his hands. 
This time he kept it. 



540-539 B.C. 




Troops at Athens (Vase of Age of Pisistratus) 



(1) The Domestic Policy of Pisistratus. — The rule of Pisistratus 
may be described as a constitutional tyranny. The constitution 
of Solon seems to have been preserved in its essential features, 
but various measures of policy were adopted by him to protect 
his position, while he preserved the old forms of government. 
He managed to exert an influence on the appointment of the 
archons, so as to secure personal adherents, and one of his own 
family generally held some office. The tyrant kept up a standing 
force of paid soldiers — among them, perhaps, Scythian archers, 
whom we see portrayed on Attic vases of the time. He confiscated 



106 GROWTH OF ATHENS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 

the estates of his leading opponents, most of whom, including 
the Alcmasonids, had left Attica, and he divided the land among 
his landless supporters, the laborers on shares, and they had 
only to pay a land-tax of one-tenth. This tax, together with his 
possessions on the Strymon, gave Pisistratus a large revenue. 
Attica was tranquil under him, and the people throve, while he 
founded the foreign power of the state and beautified the city. 

(2) The Foreign Power oj Pisistratus. — About forty years 
before Pisistratus became tyrant, Athens had made her first 
venture in distant seas, and seized the Lesbian fortress Sigeum, 
at the entrance to the Hellespont. But the conquest was lost 
during the party strife which followed. Pisistratus recaptured 
Sigeum, and made one of his sons governor of the place. At the 
same period a much greater acquisition was made in the same 
region, under the auspices of Pisistratus, but by one of his oppo- 
nents. Miltiades, of the noble family of the Philaids, a leader of 
the Plain , went out with a band of settlers to found a colony in the 
Thracian Chersonese. 

Pisistratus strongly asserted the claim of Athens to be the mother 
and leader of the Ionian branch of the Greek race. The temple 
of Apollo in Delos, the island of his mythical birth, had long been 
a religious center of the Ionians on both sides of the ^gean. 
Pisistratus " purified " the sacred spot by digging up all the tombs 
that were within sight of the sanctuary and removing the bones of 
the dead to another part of the island. 

(3) The Beginnings, of the Drama. — Pisistratus was indeed 
scrupulous and zealous in all matters concerned with religion. 
But no act of his was more fruitful in results than what he did for 
the worship of Dionysus. He built for the Bacchic god a new house 
at the foot of the Acropolis, and its ruins have not yet wholly 
disappeared. In connection with this temple Pisistratus in- 
stituted a new festival, called the Great Dionysia of the City, and 
it completely overshadowed the older feast of the Winepress 
(Lenaea), which still continued to be held in the first days of spring 



ATHENS UNDER PISISTRATUS 107 

at the old sanctuary of theMarshes. The chief feature of Dionysiac 
feasts was the choir of satyrs, the god's attendants, who danced 
around the altar clothed in goat-skins, and sang their " goat-song." 
But it became usual for the leader of the dancers, who was also 
the composer of the song, to separate himself from his fellows and 
hold speech with them, assuming the character of some person 
connected with the events which the song celebrated, and wear- 
ing an appropriate dress. Such performances, which at the 
rural feasts had been arranged by private enterprise, were made 
an official part of the Great Dionysia, and thus taken under 
state protection, in the form of a " tragic " contest, two or more 
choruses competing for a prize. Legends not connected with 
Dionysus were chosen for representation, and the dancers ap- 
peared, not in the Bacchic goat-dress, but in the costume suitable 
for their part in the story. This performance was divided into 
three acts; the dancers changed their costumes for each act; 
and only at the end did they come forward in their true goat-guise 
and perform a piece which preserved the original satyric character 
of " tragedy." Then their preponderant importance was by 
degrees diminished, and a second actor was introduced; and so 
the goat-song of the days of Pisistratus grew into the tragedy 
of iEschylus. 

The great festival in honor of Athena, known as the Pan- 
athencea, had been remodeled, if not founded, shortly before 
Pisistratus seized the tyranny, and was held every fourth year. 
It was celebrated with athletic and musical contests, but the center 
and motive of the feast was the great procession which went up 
to the house of Athena on her hill, to offer her a robe woven by 
the hands of Athenian maidens. The temple of Athena and 
Erechtheus was situated near the northern cliff; and to the south 
of it a new house had been reared for the goddess of the city to 
inhabit. It had been built before the davs of Pisistratus, but it 
was probably he who encompassed it with a Doric colonnade. 
From its length this temple was known as the House of the Hun- 



108 GROWTH OF ATHENS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 

dred Feet, and many of the lowest stones of the walls, still lying 
in their places, show us its site and shape. The triangular gables 
displayed what Attic sculptors of the day could achieve. Hitherto 




Athena slaying a Giant (from a Pediment of the Old Temple of 
Athena on the Athenian Acropolis) 

the favorite material of these sculptors had been the soft marly 
limestone of the Piraeus. But now — in the second half of the 
sixth century — Greek sculptors have begun to work in a nobler 
and harder material ; and on one of the pediments of the renovated 



GROWTH OF SPARTA, AND PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE 109 

temple of Athena Polias the battle of the Gods and Giants was 
wrought in Parian marble. Athena herself in the center of the 
composition, slaying Enceladus with her spear, may still be seen 
and admired. 

Southeastward from the citadel, on the banks of the Ilisus, 
Pisistratus began the building of a great Doric temple for the 
Olympian Zeus. He began, but so immense was the scale of his 
plan that the work had to wait for Rome and the Emperor Hadrian 
to complete it. 

3. Growth of Sparta, and the Peloponnesian League. — While 
a tyrant was moulding the destinies of Athens, Sparta had become 
the predominant power in the Peloponnesus. 

Eastern Arcadia is marked by a large plain, high above the 
sea-level; the villages in the north of this plain had coalesced 
into the town of Mantinea ; those in the south had been united 
in Tegea. Sparta had gradually pressed up to the borders of 
the Tegean territory, and a long war was the result. This war is c. 556-550 
associated with an interesting legend. When the Spartans asked 
the Delphic oracle whether they might hope to achieve the con- 
quest of Arcadia, they received a promise that the god would give 
them Tegea. Then, on account of this answer, they went forth 
against Tegea with fetters, but were defeated; and, bound in the 
fetters which they had brought, they were compelled to till the 
Tegean plain. War went on, and the Spartans, invariably de- 
feated, at last consulted the oracle again. The god bade them bring 
back the bones of Orestes, but they could find no trace of the 
hero's burying-place, and they asked the god once more. This 
time they received an oracle couched in obscure enigmatic words : — 

Among Arcadian hills a level space 

Holds Tegea, where blow two blasts perforce 
And woe is laid on woe and face to face 

Striker and counter-striker: there the corse 
Thou seekest lies, even Agamemnon's son ; 
Convey him home and victory is won. 



B.C. 



110 GROWTH OF ATHENS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 

This did not help them much. But it befell that, during a truce 
with the Tegeates, a certain Lichas, a Spartan man, was in Tegea 
and entering a smith's shop saw the process of beating out iron. 
The smith in conversation told him that, wishing to dig a well in 
his courtyard, he had found a coffin seven cubits long and within 
it a corpse of the same length, which he replaced. Lichas guessed 
at once that he had solved the oracle, and told the story at Sparta. 
The courtyard was hired from the smith, the coffin was found, and 
the bones brought home to Laconia. Then Tegea was conquered, 
and here we return from fable to fact. The territory of the Ar- 
cadian city was not treated like Messenia ; it was not incorporated 
in the territory of Lacedaemon. It became a dependent state, 
contributing a military contingent to the army of its conqueror. 
c 550 b.c. Much about the same time, Sparta at length succeeded in round- 

ing off the frontier of Laconia on the northeastern side by wresting 
the disputed territory of Thyreatis from Argos. The armies of 
the two states met on the border-land, but the Spartan kings and 
the Argive chiefs agreed to decide the dispute by a combat between 
three hundred chosen champions on either side. The story is 
that all the six hundred were slain except three, one Spartan and 
two Argives ; and that while the Argives hurried home to announce 
their victory, the Spartan — Othryades was his name — remained 
on the field and erected a trophy. In any case, both parties 
claimed the victory, and a battle was fought in which the Argives 
were utterly defeated. 

The defeat of Argos placed Sparta at the head of the peninsula. 
All the Peloponnesian states, except Argos and Achaea, were 
enrolled in" a loose confederacy, engaging themselves to supply 
military contingents in the common interest, Lacedaemon being 
the leader. The meetings of the confederacy were held at Sparta, 
and each member sent representatives. Corinth readily joined ; 
for Corinth was naturally ranged against Argos, while her com- 
mercial rival, the island state of ^Egina, was a friend of Argos. 
The other Isthmian state, Megara, in which the rule of the nobles 



FALL OF THE PISISTRATIDS III 

had been restored, was also enrolled. Everywhere Sparta exerted 
her influence to maintain oligarchy — everywhere she discoun- 
tenanced democracy, except in one notable instance. 

4. Fall of the Pisistratids and Intervention of Sparta. — When 528-527 b.c. 
Pisistratus died, his eldest son Hippias took his place and Hip- 
parchus helped him in the government. Hippias and Hipparchus 
were abreast of the most modern culture. The eminent poets 
of the day came to their court, such as Simonides of Ceos, and 
Anacreon of Teos. 

The first serious blow aimed at the power of the tyrants was due 
to a personal grudge. Hipparchus gave offense to two young men 
named Harmodius and Aristogiton; who formed the plan of 
slaying the tyrants. They chose the day of the Panathenaic 
festival because they could then, without raising suspicion, appear 
publicly with arms. But, as the hour approached, it was ob- 
served that one of the conspirators was engaged in speech with 
Hippias. His fellows leapt hastily to the conclusion that their 
plot was betrayed, and, giving up the idea of attacking Hippias, 
rushed to the market-place and slew Hipparchus. Harmodius 514 b.c. 
was cut down by the mercenaries, and Aristogiton, escaping for 
the moment, was afterward captured, tortured, and put to death. 

At the time no sympathy was manifested for the conspirators, 
but their act led to a complete change in the government of Hippias. 
Not knowing what dangers might still lurk about his feet, he be- 
came a hard and suspicious despot. Then many Athenians came 
to hate him, and they began to cherish the memory of Harmodius 
and Aristogiton as tyrant-slayers. 

The overthrow of the tyranny was chiefly brought about by the 
Alcmaeonids, who desired to return to Athens and could not win 
their desire so long as the Pisistratids were in power. They used 
their influence with the Delphic oracle to put pressure on Sparta. 
Accordingly, whenever the Spartans sent to consult the god in any 
matter, the response always was: " First, free Athens." The 
diplomacy of the Alcmaeonids, of whose clan Cleisthenes, son of 




Harmodius and Aristogiton 



FALL OF THE PISISTRATIDS 113 

Megacles, was at this time head, supported as it was by the influ- 
ence of Delphi, finally prevailed, and the Spartans consented to 
force freedom upon Athens. They sent an expedition under 
King Cleomenes, and Hippias was blockaded in the Acropolis. 
When his children, whom he was sending secretly into safety 
abroad, fell into the hands of his enemies, he capitulated, and, 
on condition that they were given back, undertook to leave Attica 
within five days. He and all his house departed to Sigeum. 510 b.c. 

Thus the tyrants had fallen, and with the aid of Sparta Athens 
was free. It was not surprising that when she came to value her 
liberty she loved to turn away from the circumstances in which it 
was actually won, and linger over the romantic attempt of the two 
friends who slew the tyrant; Harmodius and Aristogiton became 
household words. 

As soon as Hippias had been driven out and the Spartans had 
departed, the strife of factions broke out; and the Coast and Plain 
seem to have risen again in the parties of the Alcmaeonid Cleis* 
thenes * and his rival Isagoras, who was supported by the secret 
adherents of the tyrant's house. Cleisthenes won the upper hand 
by enlisting on his side superior numbers. He rallied to his 
cause a host of poor men who were outside the pale of citizenship, 

1 Tree showing the relationships of eminent Alcmaeonids in the sixth and 
fifth centuries : — 

Alcmaeon. 

I 
Megacles=Agarista of Sicyon. 



Cleisthenes, the lawgiver. Hippocrates. 



Megacles of Alopeke 

(ostracized). Agariste=Xanthippus. 



Pericles 
Megacles. Dinomache=Cleinias. 



Alcibiades. Cleinias. 

I 



114 GROWTH OF ATHENS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 

by promising to make them citizens ; and in the year of his rival's 
archonship he introduced new democratic measures of law. 
Isagoras was so far outnumbered that he had no resource but 
appeal to Sparta. At his instance the Lacedaemonians, who looked 
with disfavor on democracy, demanded that the Alcmaeonids, as 
a clan under a curse, should be expelled from Attica ; and Cleis- 
thenes, without attempting resistance, left the country. But this 
was not enough. King Cleomenes entered Attica for the second 
time, expelled seven hundred families pointed out by Isagoras, 
and attempted to dissolve the new constitution and to set up an oli- 
garchy. But the whole people rose in arms; Cleomenes, who had 
only a small band of soldiers with him, was blockaded with Isag- 
oras in the Acropolis, and was forced to capitulate on the third 
day. Cleisthenes could now return with all the other exiles and 
complete his work. 

5. Reform of Cleisthenes. — The machinery of Athenian 
democracy devised by Solon would not act. Clan interests and 
local interests occasioned factions. Clans were embodied in their 
entirety in one or other of the four tribes, and the groups of phra- 
tries possessed undue political influence. Thus the tribe was apt 
to direct its efforts to secure the advantage of a powerful clan, or 
of the dwellers in one region, such as the Coast. The memorable 
achievement of Cleisthenes was that he invented a new organiza- 
tion which split up these local or family combinations, and secured 
that citizens should act in the interest of the whole state, and not 
of a particular region. 

(1) Tribes and Demes. — Taking the map of Attica as he found 
it, consisting of between one and two hundred demes or small 
districts, Cleisthenes distinguished three regions: the region of 
the city, the region of the coast, and the inland. In each of these 
regions he divided the demes into ten groups called trittyes, so 
that there were thirty such trittyes in all. Out of the thirty trittyes 
he then formed ten groups of three, in such a way that no group 
contained two trittyes from the same region. Each of these 



REFORM OF CLEISTHENES 115 

groups constituted a tribe. Thus Kydathenaeon, a trittys of the 
city region, was combined with Paeania, a trittys of the inland, and 
Myrrhinus, a trittys of the coast, to form the tribe of Pandionis. 
The ten new tribes thus obtained were called after eponymous 
heroes. 1 

Each Athenian citizen was therefore a member of a deme, a 
trittys, and a tribe. The tribe had another use apart from its 
political function, for each tribe contributed to the army a regi- 
ment of hoplites and a squadron of horse. Every citizen, there- 
fore, not only voted with his tribe, but fought in his tribal regiment 
under his tribe's officers. The deme again was a corporation, 
with a demarch or president, who kept the burgess-roll, on which 
every citizen was inscribed at the age of seventeen. But the 
trittys had no independent corporate existence; it was only a link 
between the demes and the tribes. It was the means of bringing 
together a number of groups or demes of people without any com- 
mon local interest to act together at Athens. The old parties of 
Hill, Plain, and Coast were thus done away with. The stability 
of the new order lay in the fact that the demes on which it ulti- 
mately rested were natural and real divisions. In official docu- 
ments henceforward men were described by their deme, not by 
their father's name. A man might change his residence and live 
in another deme, but he belonged always to that in which he was 
originally enrolled. 

(2) The Council of Five Hundred. — As the existing Council of 
Four Hundred had been based on the four Ionic tribes, Cleisthenes 
devised a Council of Five Hundred based on his ten new tribes. 
Each tribe contributed fifty members, of which each deme re- 
turned a fixed number, according to its size. Councilors were 
appointed by lot ; but the outgoing Council had the right of reject- 
ing the unfit. They took an oath when they entered upon office 
that they would " advise what is best for the city"; and 

1 Names of the ten tribes: Erechtheis, ^geis, Pandionis, Leontis, Acamantis. 
CEneis, Cecropis, Hippothontis, Mantis, Antiochis. 



Il6 GROWTH OF ATHENS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 

they were responsible for their acts, when they went out of 
office. 

This Council, in which every part of Attica was represented, 
was the supreme administrative authority in the state. The 
archons and other magistrates were obliged to present reports to 
the Council and receive the Council's orders. All the finances of 
the state were practically in its hands, and ten new finance officers 
called apodektai (one from each tribe) acted under its direction. 
Further, the Council acted as a ministry of public works, and even 
as a ministry of war. It may also be regarded as the ministry 
of foreign affairs, for it conducted negotiations with foreign states, 
and received their envoys. It had no powers of declaring war or 
concluding a treaty; these powers resided solely in the sovereign 
Assembly. But the Council was not only an administrative body; 
it was a deliberative assembly, and had the initiative in all law- 
making. No proposal could come before the Ecclesia -unless it 
had already been proposed and considered in the Council. Again, 
the Council had some judicial functions. It formed a court before 
which impeachments could be brought, as well as before the 
Assembly. 

It is obvious that the administrative duties could net conven- 
iently be conducted by a body of five hundred constantly sitting. 
Accordingly the year of three hundred and sixty days was divided 
into ten parts, and the councilors of each tribe took it in turn to act 
as a committee for carrying on public business during a tenth of 
the year. In this capacity, as members of the acting committee of 
fifty, the councilors were called Prytaneis or presidents, the tribe 
to which they belonged was said to be the presiding, and the 
divisions of this artificial year were called prytanies. 

The new tribes led to a change in the military organization. 
Each was required to supply a regiment of hoplites and a squadron 
of horsemen; and the hoplites were commanded by ten generals 
whom the people elected from each tribe. The office of general 
was destined hereafter to become the most important in the 



FIRST VICTORIES OF THE DEMOCRACY 117 

state; but at first he was merely the commander of the tribal 
regiment. 

The Athenian Council instituted by Cleisthenes shows that 
Greek statesmen understood the principle of representative govern- 
ment. That Council is an excellent example of representation 
with a careful distribution of seats according to the size of the 
electorates; and it was practically the governing body of the state. 
But though Greek statesmen understood the principle, they always 
hesitated to intrust to a representative assembly sovereign powers 
of legislation. Owing to the small size of the city-state, an assem- 
bly, which every citizen who chose could attend, was a practicable 
institution; and the fundamental principle that supreme legisla- 
tive power is exercised by the people itself could be literally applied. 

6. First Victories of the Democracy. — Athens, now become 
a democracy, was at once subjected to a critical ordeal. King 
Cleomenes, who had pulled down one tyrant, now proposed to set 
up another, and in support of Isagoras, now an aspirant to the 
tyrannis, he leagued Sparta with Bceotia and Chalcis. Attica 
was to be assailed on three sides at once. But when the Pelopon- 
nesian host under the two kings, Cleomenes and Demaratus, had 
crossed the Isthmus and occupied Eleusis, they were deserted by 506 b.c 
the Corinthians, who condemned the expedition and returned 
home. Quarrels between Cleomenes and Demaratus further 
disorganized the army, till finally it broke up. Thus Cleomenes 
was again thwarted, and Athens- a second time saved from Spartan 
coercion. 

Meanwhile, the Thebans as leaders of Bceotia had gladly joined 
the enterprise. Plataea, a town on the Boeotian slope of Mount 
Cithaeron, held aloof from the Boeotian league and sought the help 5IO r> c 
and protection of Athens. This was the beginning of a long 
friendship. When the retreat of Cleomenes left the Athenian 
army free to check the Boeotians, who had come in over the pass 
of Cithaeron, and the Chalcidians, who had crossed the Euripus, 
the Boeotians moved to join the Chalcidian force. But they were 



Il8 GROWTH OF ATHENS IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 

intercepted and thoroughly defeated by the Athenians, who then 
followed the Chalcidians across the strait, and won another victory 
so crushing that Chalcis was forced to cede the Lelantine plain. 
The richest part of this plain was divided into lots among two 
506 b.c. thousand Athenian citizens who migrated to Eubcea. Thus the 

democracy had not only defended itself, but won new territory. 

TOPICS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 79) 

1. The Tyranny of Pisistratus. 

Bury, 192-202. Holm, I, 405-419. Abbott, Greece, I, 450-476. 

2. The Reforms of Cleisthenes. 

Bury, 211-215. Holm, I, 421-431. Cox, Greek Statesmen, 61-71. 
Sources. The Pisistratids, Herodotus, I, 59-64. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE ^EGEAN 

i . The Rise of Persia and the Fall of the Lydian Kingdom. — 

While the Greeks were sailing their own seas, and working out in 
their city-states the institutions of law and freedom, great despotic 
kingdoms were waxing and waning in the east. In the seventh 
century the mighty empire of Assyria was verging to its end; the 
power destined to overthrow it had arisen. Those who destroyed 
the Assyrian empire, the Medes and Persians, folk of Aryan 
speech like the Greeks, were marked out by destiny to be the 
adversaries of the Greeks throughout the two chief centuries of 
Grecian history. 

Toward the end of the eighth century the Medes successfully c. 700 b.c. 
revolted from Assyria, conquered and formed a union with the 
Persians who lived in the hilly country to the south, and, in a 
league with Babylonia, overwhelmed Assyria itself. The con- 606 b.c. 
querors divided the empire. The southwestern portion up to the 
borders of Eygpt went to Babylonia; Assyria and the lands 
stretching westward into Asia Minor were annexed to Media. 
The conquest of Lydia was the next aim in the expansion of the 
Median power, and a pretext was found for declaring war. In 
the sixth year of the war, in the midst of a battle, an eclipse of the 
sun made such an impression on the minds of the combatants 
that a peace was concluded. Through a fortunate marriage 
treaty, the kingdom of Lydia was saved for a generation to enjoy 
the brilliant period of its history. 

It was during this period that the kings of Lydia attempted to 
subdue the Greek cities along the coast, and under Croesus succeeded 

119 





120 THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE AEGEAN 

in adding all but Miletus to their empire. The Greek language 

spread in Lydia ; the Greek gods were revered ; the Greek oracles 

were consulted. Hence the Greeks never regarded the Lydians 

as utter barbarians ; and they 

always cherished a curious 

indulgence and sympathy for 

Croesus, though he had en- 

Gold Coin of Sardis (Middle of slaved and ruled as despot 

Sixth Century). Obverse: Forf- , ... , . . . „ n 

t T ~ J .^ t> ittt d^ the cities of Asiatic Hellas. 
parts of Lion and Bull. Re- 
verse: Two Incuse Squares The Ionians had marveled 

at the treasures of golden 
Gyges, but the untold wealth of Croesus became proverbial. 
There is no more striking proof of the political importance of 
the oracle of Delphi at this period than the golden offerings 
dedicated by Croesus — offerings richer than even the priestly 
avarice of the Delphians could have dared to hope for. 

Having extended his sway to the coast, Croesus conceived the 
idea of making Lydia a sea-power and conquering the islands. 
But he was diverted from his design by an event of great moment. 
His brother-in-law Astyages was hurled from the throne of Media 
by a hero, who was to become one of the world's mightiest con- 
querors. The usurper was Cyrus the Great, of the Persian family 
of the Achsemenids. 

The fall of Astyages was an opportunity for the ambitious 
Lydian to turn his arms to the east. Desirous of probing the 
hidden event of the future, he consulted the Delphic oracle. It 
is said that the answer was that if he crossed the Halys, he would 
destroy a mighty empire. Croesus, at the head of an army which 
included a force of Ionian Greeks, crossed the fateful Halys and 
invaded Cappadocia. But the host of Cyrus seems to have been 
far superior in numbers, and Croesus retired before him into Lydia. 
546 b.c. Under the walls of the capital the invader won a decisive victory, 

and after a short siege Sardis was stormed and plundered. The 
life of Croesus was spared. 



THE RISE OF PERSIA 



121 



The overthrow of Croesus was the most illustrious example that 
the Greeks had ever witnessed of their favorite doctrine that the 
gods visit with jealousy men who enjoy too great prosperity. 
And never more than for the memory of Croesus did Greece put 




Crcesus on the Pyre (Attic Vase) 



forth the power which she possessed in such full measure, of 
weaving round an event of history tales which have a deep and 
touching import as lessons for the life of men. 
Cyrus built a great pyre — so the story is told by Herodotus — 



122 THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE ^EGEAN 

and placed thereon Crcesus bound in chains, with fourteen Lydian 
boys. And as Crcesus was standing on the pile, in this extreme 
pass, there came into his mind a word which Solon had said to 
him, that no man could be called happy so long as he was alive. 
For the Athenian statesman had visited the court of Sardis in his 
travels, — the art of the tale-weaver had no precise regard for the 
facts of time, — and when he had seen the royal treasures and the 
greatness of the kingdom, Crcesus asked him whom he deemed the 
happiest of men. Solon named some obscure Greeks who were 
dead ; and when the king, unable to hide his wonder and vexation, 
exclaimed, " Is our royal fortune so poor, O Athenian stranger, 
that you set private men before me? " the wise Greek had dis- 
coursed on the uncertainty of life and the jealousy of the gods. 
And so Crcesus, remembering this, groaned aloud and called thrice 
on the name of Solon. But Cyrus heard him call, and bade the 
interpreters ask him on whom he was calling. For a while 
Crcesus would not speak, then he said, " One whom I would 
that all tyrants might meet and converse with." Pressed further, 
he named Solon the Athenian, and repeated the wise man's 
words. The pyre was already alight, but when Cyrus heard the 
answer of his prisoner, he reflected that he too was a man, and 
commanded that the fire should be quenched and the victims set 
free. The flames were already blazing so strong and high that the 
men could not quench them. Then Crcesus cried to Apollo for 
help, and the god sent clouds into the clear sky, and a tempestuous 
shower of rain extinguished the fire. 

Such is the tale as we read it in the history of Herodotus. The 
moral of the tale clearly was, Bring gifts to Delphi; and we can 
hardly doubt that it originated under Delphic influence. 

2. The Persian Conquest of Asiatic Greece, and Egypt. — When 
the barrier of Lydia was swept away, a new period opened in 
Grecian history. The Asiatic Greeks were to exchange sub- 
jection to a lord of Sardis for subjection to a potentate who held 
his court in Susa, a city so distant that the length of the journey 



FIRST YEARS OF DARIUS. CONQUEST OF THRACE 1 23 

was told by months. The king was obliged to leave his conquests 
in Asia Minor to the government of his satraps ; and the Greeks 
were unable to exercise any influence upon him, as they might 
have done if he had ruled from Sardis or some nearer capital. 
They were an easy prey. Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, reduced 
them one after another; tribute was imposed upon them and the 
burden of serving in the Persian armies, when such service was 
required; but no restrictions were placed upon the freedom of 
their commerce. 

The conqueror of Lydia returned to the east to subdue the 
mightier power of Babylon. But his conquests lie outside our 
history. His last enterprise was the subjugation of the Massagetae, 
a Scythian folk near the Aral lake, and one story says that he was 
slain in battle against them, and that the savage queen placed his c . 530 b.c. 
head in a basin of blood. 

While Cyrus far outpassed the utmost limits of Assyria in some 
directions, he left unconquered the great kingdom of the south, 
which had once been part of the Assyrian empire. But his son 
Cambyses repaired the omission. The conquest of Egypt, which 
became a Persian satrapy, led to the submission of Greek Cyrene. 

3. The First Years of Darius. Conquest of Thrace. — King 
Cambyses, returning from Egypt to put down a usurper, " found 522 b.c. 
death by his own hand," as is related. The next heir to the 
Persian throne was a certain Hystaspes, who had a son named 
Darius. Hystaspes made no attempt to secure his right, but 
Darius had different thoughts from his father; and conspiring 
with six nobles, he killed the usurper and became king himself. 

Darius divided his whole realm into twenty satrapies. West of 
the Halys, the old kingdom of Lydia consisted of three provinces, 
but subject to two satraps : the Ionian and the Lydian under one 
governor who resided at Sardis; the Phrygian, which included the 
Greek cities of the Propontis, under a governor whose seat was at 
Dascylion. These satraps did not interfere in the local affairs 
of the Greek cities, which were ruled by despots; and the despots 







124 



FIRST YEARS OF DARIUS. CONQUEST OF THRACE 125 

might do much as they pleased, so long as they paid tribute duly 
and furnished military contingents when required. Commerce 
was furthered by the monetary reforms of Darius, and the chief 
piece of Persian gold money was always known in Greece by the 
name daric. 

Cyrus had conquered the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean ; 
Cambyses had completed and secured that conquest on the south 
side by the subjection of Egypt ; it remained for Darius to complete 
and secure his empire on the north side by the reduction of Thrace. 
The Thracian race was warlike and the country is mountainous, 
so that the Persian enterprise demanded large forces and careful 
precautions. A large fleet was furnished by the Greek subjects c. 511 b.c 
of Persia, to sail along the Thracian coast of the Black Sea as far 
as the mouths of the Danube, and to support and cooperate with 
the army. The contingents of the various Greek cities were com- 
manded by their despots, prominent among whom were Histiaeus 
of Miletus, and Miltiades of the Thracian Chersonesus. 

No details of the warfare in Thrace are preserved. The Greek 
fleet sailed up the mouth of the Danube, and a bridge of boats was 
thrown across. Darius and his army marched over into Scythia. 
But both the king's purpose and what he did, in this remote 
corner of the world, are hidden in a cloud of legend. It appears 
that his communications with the fleet which awaited his return 
were for some time cut off, and the Greek commanders were 
tempted to sail away and leave him in the lurch. But the fact is 
that it would have been entirely contrary to their own interests to 
inflict a blow on the power which maintained despotism in the 
Greek cities of Asia Minor. 

The European expedition of Darius was a distinct success. But 
it has come down to us in a totally fabulous shape. It is repre- 
sented by Herodotus as not primarily an expedition against 
Thrace, but as an attempt to execute the mad project of incor- 
porating the Scythians of the steppes of southern Russia in the 
Persian empire. Darius, whose purpose is said to have been to 



126 THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE ^EGEAN 

take vengeance on the Scythians for their invasion of Media a 
hundred years before, intended to break down the bridge when he 
had passed over the Danube and send the ships home; but by 
the advice of a prudent Greek, he changed his plan. He took a 
cord, in which he tied sixty knots, and said to the Greek captains: 
" Untie one of these knots every day, and remain here and guard 
the bridge till they are all untied. If I have not returned at the 
end of that time, sail home." The Ionians waited at the river 
beyond the ordained time, and presently a band of Scythians 
arrived, urging them to destroy the bridge, so that they might insure 
the destruction of Darius and gain their own freedom. Miltiades, 
the tyrant of the Chersonese, strongly advocated the proposal of 
the Scythians, but the counter-arguments of Histiaeus of Miletus 
prevailed, for he pointed out that the power of the despots in the 
cities depended on the Persian domination. Thus Darius, after 
an ignominious retreat, was saved by the good offices of Histiaeus; 
whereas, if the advice of Miltiades had been adopted, the subse- 
quent Persian invasion of Greece might never have taken place. 

Thus Greek imagination, inspired by Greek prejudice, changed 
a reasonable and successful enterprise into an insane and disas- 
trous expedition. 

4. The Ionic Revolt against Persia. — For twelve years after 
the return of Darius from Thrace, nothing happened to bring on 
the struggle between Asia and Europe. Then political strife in 
the island of Naxos led indirectly to a revolt of the Ionian Greeks 
from Persia, in which Athens and other cities played a part, and 
so brought on an expedition against Greece. 

Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, was detained by Darius at Susa, 
ostensibly because the king could not do without him — really 
because he was dangerous. Aristagoras, his son-in-law, governed 
at Miletus. To the latter came oligarchs from Naxos, exiled by a 
democratic rising, and asking to be restored. Aristagoras went 
to Sardis, and suggested to the satrap Artaphernes that, under 
pretext of restoring these men, first Naxos, and then all the Cy- 



THE IONIC REVOLT AGAINST PERSIA 1 27 

clades, might be conquered for Persia. Artaphernes obtained 
the consent of Darius, and an expedition of two hundred ships 499 B -c 
was sent out under Aristagoras and the Persian admiral Mega- 
bates. The commanders quarreled, Megabates warned Naxos, 
and the islanders were able to defend themselves. Thus the plan 
of Aristagoras failed, and finding himself in disfavor with the 
Persians, he decided to head a rebellion of Ionia. As a revolt 
could not be led by him as tyrant, for the moving force .of re- 
bellion must be the natural Greek hatred of the despotic constitu- 
tions which Persia upheld in Ionia as elsewhere, Aristagoras 
therefore resigned his position as tyrant in Miletus, and in the other 
cities, also, the tyrants were removed — mostly without bloodshed. 

The next step was to obtain help from Greece against the 
Persian power. Aristagoras undertook this mission. At Sparta, 
according to the story, King Cleomenes refused even to consider 
the question when he found that the capital of the " Great King " 
was a three months' journey from the coast. But at Athens and 
Eretria he fared better. Both these cities sent aid; Athens 
twenty ships — ships, says Herodotus, "which were the be- 
ginning of ills between Greeks and barbarians." 

The Persians had already laid siege to Miletus, when Aris- 
tagoras, with his Athenian and Eretrian allies, marched up 
to Sardis. His object was to force the enemy to raise the siege 498 b.c. 
of Miletus. The Greeks took Sardis, but they did not take the 
citadel. While they were there, a fire broke out and the town 
was burned to the ground. The Greeks left the smoking ruins 
and marched back to the coast ; but near Ephesus they were met 
by a Persian force and defeated. The Athenians straightway 
returned home; and with this battle the part played by Athens 
in the Ionic revolt comes to an end. The burning of Sardis was 
important only for its consequences. The story is that Darius, 
being told that Athenians had helped to burn Sardis, asked, " The 
Athenians — who are they?" He then called for a bow, and 
shooting an arrow into the air, invoked heaven that it might be 



128 



THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE ^GEAN 



given to him to punish the Athenians. Moreover, he bade one 
of his slaves to say to him three times at dinner, " Sire, remember 
the Athenians." 

The revolt extended southward to Caria and to Cyprus, north- 
ward to the Propontis. In Cyprus most of the cities threw off 
the Persian yoke, and a Phoenician fleet was occupied with the 
recovery of the island. The Hellespontine towns were also 
subdued. In Caria the insurgents, after suffering two serious 
defeats, succeeded in destroying a Persian army. 

The main and decisive event of the war was the siege of Miletus, 
on which the Persians at length concentrated all their efforts. The 

town was blockaded by the 
squadron of six hundred 
ships which had just re- 
duced Cyprus. The Greek 
fleet was stationed off the 
island of Lade. It is said 
to have numbered three 
hundred and fifty- three 
ships, but they were ill- 
organized. In the battle 
which ensued, the Lesbians 
and Samians deserted; the 
men of Chios fought splen- 
didly, but they were too few. 
Miletus was then taken by 
storm. The temple of 
Apollo at Didyma, one of 
the chief oracular sanctua- 
ries of the Greek world, 
was burned down. 
The tidings of the fall of Miletus produced at Athens a deep 
feeling, which found expression when Phrynichus, a tragic poet, 
made the catastrophe of Miletus the theme of a drama. The 




Ephesus 



^> £?<*$ ^£^C- c'a Rll 

O 



MHetu* 




The Ionic Revolt 



SECOND AND THIRD EXPEDITIONS OF DARIUS 1 29 

Athenians fined him for having recalled to their minds their own 
misfortunes. But in the meantime there had been won for them, 
from the Persian, what was destined to become afterward a last- 
ing possession. Miltiades, the tyrant of the Chersonese, seized the 
isles of Lemnos and Imbros. When the revolt failed, feeling him- 
self unsafe in the Chersonese, he fled to Athens, and prof essed that 
he had conquered Lemnos and Imbros for her. Though these 
islands seem to have been occupied by the Persians for a time, 
they passed back under Athenian dominion. 

5. Second and Third European Expeditions of Darius. — Having 
suppressed the rebellion, Darius caused the territories of the 
Ionian cities to be measured and surveyed, and the tributes regu- 
lated accordingly. The revolt had taught Persia that the system 
of tyrannies did not answer; and it was now resolved to make an 
experiment of the opposite policy. The despots were abolished, and 
democratic governments were set up. It was a concession to the 
spirit of the Greeks which reflects credit on the wisdom of Darius. 

The king's son-in-law, Mardonius, was sent to reassert Persian 
supremacy in Thrace and Macedonia; and through Macedonia he 
proposed to advance into Greece, in order to punish the two cities 
which had helped the Ionian rebels. A fleet sailed along the coast 
and subdued the island of Thasos on its way. Thrace was reduced, 
and Macedonia, then under King Alexander, submitted. But the 
Greek expedition could not be carried out, since the fleet was 
partly wrecked in a storm off the perilous promontory of Athos. 492 b.c. 

But Darius was sternly resolved that Athens and Eretria should 
not escape without chastisement. Their connection with the burn- 
ing of Sardis had deeply incensed him. Moreover, Hippias, the 
banished tyrant of Athens, was at the court of Susa, urging an 
expedition against the city which had cast him out. It was decided 
that the new expedition should move straight across the /Egean 
Sea. Heralds were sent to the chief cities of free Greece that were 
not at war with Persia, requiring the tokens of submission, earth 
and water. In most cases the tokens were given; and among 

K 



130 THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE iEGEAN 

others by ^gina, the enemy of Athens. The command of the army 
was intrusted to Datis and to Artaphernes, a nephew of Darius ; 
and they were accompanied by the aged tyrant Hippias, who 
hoped to rule once more over his native country. The armament 
— six hundred galleys strong, according to Herodotus — having 
sailed from isle to isle, subduing the Cyclades, went up the channel 
between Eubcea and Attica, and, reducing Carystus by the way, 
reached the territory of Eretria. Within seven days the city was 
delivered over to the invaders by the treachery of some leading 
citizens. The inhabitants were enslaved. It now remained to 
deal with the other city which had defied the king. Crossing over 
the strait, the Persian generals landed their army in the bay of 
Marathon. 

6. The Battle of Marathon. Miltiades. — The soul of the resist- 
ance which Athens offered to the invader was Miltiades. He had 
indeed been a tyrant himself, and the successor of tyrants, and had 
been accused before the Assembly of oppressive rule in the Cher- 
sonese. But he had given Lemnos and Imbros to Athens, he was 
the hereditary foe of the Pisistratids, who had killed his father 
Cimon, and he probably knew more of the Persians than any man 
at Athens. He was therefore chosen as the strategos of his tribe. 
Yet, as Herodotus tells the story, few preparations seem to have 
been made till the Persians were almost landing. A fast runner 
was despatched in hot haste to Lacedaemon to bear the news of the 
fall of Eretria and the jeopardy of Athens. The Lacedaemonians 
said that they would help Athens, — they were bound to help a 
member of their league, — but religious scruples forbade them to 
come at once; they must wait till the full moon had passed. But 
when the full moon had passed, it was too late. 

The whole army of the Athenians may have numbered about 
nine thousand. The commander-in-chief was Callimachus, the 
polemarch of the year; and, fortunately for Athens, Callimachus 
seems to have been willing to hearken to the counsels of Miltiades. 
The enemy had landed near Marathon and clearly intended to ad- 



BATTLE OF MARATHON. MILTIADES 



131 



vance on unwalled Athens by land and sea. The question was 
whether the Athenian army should await their approach and 
give them battle within sight and reach of the Acropolis, or should 
more boldly go forth to find them. Miltiades proposed in the As- 
sembly to march to Marathon, and meet the Persians there. To 
have proposed and carried this decree is probably the greatest 
title of Miltiades to his immortal fame. 

The plain of Marathon, stretching along a sickle-shaped line 
of coast, is surrounded 
on all other sides by 
hills, and on both the 
northern and southern 
ends bounded by 
marshes, while through 
the center a mountain 
torrent rushes to the 
bay. Two roads lead 
from Athens to Mara- 
thon. The main road, 
following the line of 
the coast, enters the 
plain from the south; 
the other, which is 

somewhat shorter, but more difficult, runs through the hills, and 
by two paths reaches the plain. 

Callimachus took the northern road, and encamped in a valley 
not far from the shrine of Heracles. The choice of this admirable 
position was more than half the victory. The Athenians were 
themselves unassailable, except at a great disadvantage; and they 
commanded not only the mountain road by which they had come, 
but also the main road and the southern gate of the plain ; for the 
Persians in attempting to reach that gate would be exposed to their 
flank attack. The Persians had encamped on the north side of 
the torrent-bed, and their ships were riding at anchor beside them. 




SCALE OF ENGLISH MILFS 



Battle of Marathon 



132 THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE ^GEAN 

It was to their interest to bring on a pitched battle in the plain as 
soon as possible. On the other hand, the Athenians had every- 
thing to gain by waiting in their impregnable position ; if they 
waited long enough they might hope for help from Sparta. Help 
from another quarter had already come. When they reached the 
sanctuary of Heracles, they were joined by a band of one thousand 
Plataeans, who, in gratitude for the protection of Athens against 
the Theban yoke, now came to help her in the hour of jeopardy. 
Some days passed, and then, as the Greeks remained immovable, 
the Persians would wait no longer. Having embarked a part of the 
army, including the whole body of their cavalry, they made ready 
to move upon Athens by land and sea. The land force must 
follow the main road, and was therefore prepared for battle, in 
case the Greeks should attack them before they defiled from the 
plain. Another critical moment had come for the Athenians, 
but the polemarch decided to attack the enemy as they marched 
southward. 

Callimachus showed now a skill in tactics as consummate as the 
skill in strategy which we have already witnessed. Outnumbered 
by the foe, if the Athenian line had formed itself in equal depth 
throughout, it would have swept the Persian center into the sea, 
but then it would have been caught in a trap, between the sea and 
ships on one side and the Persian wings, which would have closed 
in, on the other. Accordingly, Callimachus made his own center 
long and shallow, so that it would cover the whole Persian center, 
while his wings of the normal depth would be opposed to the 
wings of the enemy. 
Aug. or Sept, The long Persian line crossed the bed of the torrent and advanced 
490 ] along the shore. A large portion was detached toward the Greek 

position, in order either to prevent or to repel a flank attack. 
With these troops to cover them, the rest of the host might march 
securely past. The Greek army had perhaps already appeared in 
the recess of the hills at the mouth of the valley: Callimachus 
himself led the right wing; the Plataean allies were posted on the 



BATTLE OF MARATHON. MILTIADES 1 33 

extreme left. When the Greeks drew near to the line of the 
enemy, they were met by volleys of arrows from the eastern archers, 
and to escape this danger they advanced at a run into close quar- 
ters. All fell out as had been foreseen. The Athenian center was 
driven back toward the hills by the enemy's center, where the 
best troops, including the Persians themselves, were stationed; 
but the Athenian wings completely routed the wings of their foe. 
Then, closing in, they turned upon the victorious Persians, who 
were following the retreating Greek center. Here again they 
were utterly victorious, breaking up the array of the enemy and 
pursuing them in confusion to the shore, where all who escaped 
the sword were picked up by the ships. Only a portion of the 
Persian army had been engaged; the main body doubtless embarked 
as soon as they saw the first signs of the disruption of the force on 
which they had relied to cover them from the enemy. 

It was not a long battle. The Athenian loss was small — one 
hundred and ninety-two slain ; and the Persian loss was reckoned 
at about sixty-four hundred. Datis and Artaphernes had still 
an immense host, which might retrieve the fortune of the cam- 
paign; Athens was not yet out of danger. The Persian squadron 
sailed down the straits and rounded Cape Sunium, while the 
victorious army, leaving one regiment on the field of their 
triumph to guard the slain and the spoils, marched back to defend 
Athens. They halted outside the city on the banks of the Ilisus, 
and they beheld the fleet of the enemy riding off Phaleron. But 
it did not put into shore, and presently the whole squadron began 
to draw out to sea. Datis had abandoned his enterprise. Per- 
haps when he saw that the army was there, he shrank from an- 
other conflict with the hoplites. But a Spartan army had set out 
on the day after the full moon, and it reached Athens soon after the 
battle. We may guess that tidings of the approach of the Spartans, 
if not their actual presence, had something to do with the sudden 
departure of the invaders, who, though they had received an un- 
looked-for check, had not endured an overwhelming defeat. 



134 THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE .EGEAN 

The Spartans arrived too late for the battle. They visited the 
field, desiring to gaze upon the Persian corpses, and departed 
home praising the exploit of the Athenians. The scene of the 
battle is still marked by the mound which the Athenians raised 
over their own dead ; Callimachus was buried there, and Cynegi- 
rus ( a brother of the poet ^Eschylus), who was said to have seized 
a Persian galley and held it until his arm was severed by an axe. 
Legend grew up quickly round the battle. Gods and heroes 
fought for Athens, ghostly warriors moved among the ranks. 
The panic terror of the Persians at the Greek charge was ascribed 
to Pan, and the worship of this god was revived in a cave conse- 
crated to him under the northwest slope of the Acropolis. 

The enormous prestige which Athens won by the single-handed 
victory over the host of the Great King gave her new self-con- 
fidence and ambition; history seemed to have set a splendid seal 
on her democracy; she felt that she could trust her constitution, 
and that she might lift her head as high as any state in Hellas. 
The Athenians always looked back to Marathon as marking an 
epoch. It was as if on that day the gods had said to them, Go on 
and prosper. 

The great battle immortalized Miltiades ; but his latter end was 
not good. His fellow-citizens granted him, on his own proposal, 
a commission to attack the island of Paros, which had furnished 
a trireme to the armament of Datis. Miltiades besieged the city 
of Paros for twenty-six days, but without success, and then re- 
turned home wounded. The failure was imputed to criminal 
conduct of the general; and he was fined fifty talents, a heavy 
fine. It is not known what his alleged wrong-doing was ; but after- 
ward, when the legend grew, it was foolishly said that he per- 
suaded the Athenians to intrust the fleet to him, promising to take 
them to a land of gold, and that he deceived them by assailing 
Paros to gratify a private revenge. He died soon after his con- 
demnation. 

7. Struggle of Athens and JEglna., — At this time /Egina was 



GROWTH OF THE ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY 135 

the strongest naval power in the ^Egean, and the Athenians had 
some reason to fear that she would give the Persians not only her 
good-will, but her active help. Accordingly, the Athenians sought 
the intervention of Sparta, complaining that /Egina was medizing 1 
and betraying Greece out of enmity to Athens. Sparta's prestige 
had at this time been increased by a victory over her old rival 
Argos, whom Cleomenes entirely defeated near Tiryns, crippling 494 b.c. 
the power of Argos for more than twenty years. But Athens ap- 
pealed to her officially as head of the Peloponnesian League, in 
which both Athens and T^gina were included. Sparta listened to 
the complaint, and Cleomenes went to ^Egina, seized ten hostages, 
and left them at Athens. Thus ^Egina was prevented from help- 
ing the Persians or hindering the Athenians. 

After the death of Cleomenes, Tigina demanded the restoration 4 8 7 B - c - 
of her hostages, but the Athenians refused, and hostilities broke 
out again. The necessity of protecting Attica from T^ginetan 
raids, and the hope of reducing ^-Egina to subjection or insignifi- 
cance, helped to convert Athens into a naval power. 

8. Growth of the Athenian Democracy. — Under the scheme of 
Cleisthenes great power was left to the archons, whom the people 
elected for their social position or their ability. But the tendency 
was to weaken the magistrates and strengthen the Bule; and some 
years after Marathon, a change was made in the manner of appoint- 487 b.c. 
ment. Five hundred men were elected by the demes, and out of 
this body the nine archons were chosen by lot. It was therefore 
five hundred to one against any prominent citizen becoming chief 
archon, and obviously the importance of the chief archonship dis- 
appears. Obviously, also, a commander-in-chief could not be 
elected by such means, and the powers of the polemarch were 
therefore transferred to the ten strategi who had been hitherto 
elected, each by his own tribe; but a reform was made by which 
the whole people elected the generals. 

A new institution — that of ostracism — transferred the duty 
1 Negotiating with the Medes; i.e. Persians. 



136 THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE ^GEAN 

of protecting the state against the danger of a tyranny from the 
paternal council of the Areopagus to the sovereign people. The 
ordinance of the Ostrakismos was that in the sixth prytany of each 
civil year the question should be laid before the Assembly of the 
people whether they willed that an ostracism should be held or not. 
If they voted in the affirmative, then an extraordinary Assembly 
was summoned in the market-place in the eighth prytany. The 
citizens were grouped in tribes, and each citizen placed in an urn 
a potsherd (ostrakori) inscribed with the name of the person whom 
he desired to be " ostracized." The voting was not valid unless 
six thousand votes at least were given, and whoever had most 
ostraka against him was condemned to leave Attica within ten 
days and not set foot in it again for ten years. He was allowed, 
however, to retain his property, and remained an Athenian citizen. 
It is said that Cleisthenes devised the ostracism, and devised it 
specially to banish a Pisistratid, Hipparchus, son of Charmus. 
And this Hipparchus was the first man ostracized, though not till 

487 b.c. fifteen years later. In the next year Megacles, an Alcmaeonid who 

had espoused the Pisistratid cause, suffered the same fate. These 

486 b.c. decrees were probably brought about by the then leading demo- 

cratic statesmen, Xanthippus, Aristides, and Themistocles. But 
when Xanthippus in 484, and Aristides in 482 B.C., were also 
ostracized, it is clear that the motive was not fear of a tyranny, 
but to remove the opposition of a statesman to some popular 
measure — possibly the bold naval policy of Themistocles. 

An excellent anecdote is told of the ostracism of Aristides " the 
Just," as he was called. On. the day of the voting an illiterate 
citizen chanced to be close to Aristides who was unknown to him 
by sight, and requested him to write down the name " Aristides " 
on the ostrakon. " Why," said Aristides, doing as he was asked, 
"do you wish to ostracize him?" "Because," said the fellow, 
"I am tired of hearing him called the Just." 

9. Athens becomes a Sea-Power. Themistocles. — But the 
greatest statesman of this critical period in the history of Athens 



ATHENS BECOMES A SEA-POWER 1 37 

was Themistocles. It may be said that he contributed more than 
any other single man to the making of Athens into a great state. 
In the sixth century the Athenians were a considerable naval 
power; but the fleet was regarded as subsidiary to the army. 
The idea of Themistocles was to sacrifice the army to the navy 
and make Athens a sea-state — the strongest sea-state in Greece. 
He began the work when he was archon, some two or three years 
before the battle of Marathon, by carrying a measure through the 
Assembly for the fortification of the peninsula of Piraeus. Hitherto 
the wide exposed strand of Phaleron was the harbor where the 
Athenians kept their triremes, hauled up on the beach, unpro- 
tected against the surprise of an enemy. It seems strange that 
they had not before made use of " the Piraeus," the large harbor 
on the west side of the peninsula of Munychia, which could be 
supplemented by the two smaller harbors on the east side, 
Munychia and Zea. But the Piraeus was somewhat farther from 
the city, and was not within sight of the Acropolis like Phaleron. 
So long, therefore, as there was no fortified harbor, Phaleron was 
safer. The plan of Themistocles was to fortify the whole circuit 
of the peninsula by a wall, and prepare docks in the three harbors 
for the reception of the warships. The work was begun, but it was 
interrupted by the Persian invasion. Then a war with iEgina 
combined with the fear of another Persian invasion, helped The- 
mistocles to carry to completion another part of his great scheme 
— the increase of the fleet. A rich bed of silver had been re- 
cently discovered in the old mining district of Laurion, and 
had suddenly brought into the public treasury a large sum, 
perhaps a hundred talents. It was proposed to distribute this 
among the citizens, but Themistocles persuaded the Assembly 
to apply it to the purpose of building new ships. Two years later 
we find Athens with nearly two hundred triremes at her command. 
The completion of the Piraeus wall was not attempted at this 
period. 



138 THE ADVANCE OF PERSIA TO THE ^GEAN 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 81-82) 

1. The Rise and Conquests of Persia in the East. 
Bury, 219-238. Cox, Greeks and Persians, ch. iii. 

Sources. Herodotus, I, 26-28, 50-52. (Croesus.) 

2. The Ionic Revolt. 

Bury, 241-247. Holm, II, ch. i. Cox, Greeks and Persians, ch. v. 
Source. Herodotus, I, 6-18. (Lade.) 

3. The Expeditions of Darius ; Marathon and Miltiades. 

Holm, II, 16-24. Cox, Greeks and Persians, 118-135. Cox, Greek 
Statesmen, 100-115. 
Source. Herodotus, VI, 102-117. 

4. The Growth of the Athenian Democracy. Themistocles and Aristides. 
Holm, II, 29-36. Bury, 260-265. 

Source. The first portions of the lives of Aristides and Themistocles 
by Plutarch give the traditional account of the relation of these 
two men. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE PERILS OF GREECE. THE PERSIAN AND PUNIC INVASIONS 

i . The Preparations and March of Xerxes. — After the unex- 
pected repulse of his forces at Marathon, Darius had determined to 
send another expedition. But he died before he could execute 485 b.c. 
his resolve, and Xerxes, his son by Atossa, succeeded to the 
throne. The question then arose whether the design should be 
carried out. It is related that Xerxes was himself undecided, 
but was over-persuaded by the impetuous counsels of his cousin 
Mardonius. 

It was resolved that the expedition should consist of a joint 
attack by sea and land. Preparations were begun by the difficult 
enterprise of digging a canal (about a mile and a half long) across 483 b.c. 
the isthmus of Mount Athos, where a large part of the fleet, under 
Mardonius, had been wrecked. When it was finished, the workmen 
proceeded to lay a bridge over the Strymon for the passage of the 
army, and preparations were made all along the line of route for 
the feeding of a vast host. It is impossible to suppose that the 
whole army wintered in Sardis with the king ; it is probable that the 
place of mustering was at the Hellespont, across which two bridges 
had been constructed by Phoenician and Egyptian engineers. 
But a tempest destroyed the bridges, and the wrath of Xerxes at 
this catastrophe was violent. He not only beheaded the engineers, 
but commanded that three hundred lashes should be inflicted on 
the waters of the Hellespont. New bridges were constructed, 
and, from a marble throne erected on the shore, Xerxes is said to 
have witnessed the passage of his army, which began at the first 
moment of sunrise. The troops crossed under the lash, and the 
crossing was accomplished in two days. 

139 



140 THE PERILS OF GREECE 

The army was joined by the fleet at Doriscus in Thrace. Fleet 
and army were henceforward to act together. In the plain of 
Doriscus, Xerxes reviewed and numbered his forces. " What na- 
tion of Asia," asks Herodotus, "did not Xerxes lead against 
Hellas ? " The Persians themselves, who were under the com- 
mand of Otanes, wore coats of mail and trousers; they had wicker 
shields, large bows, and short spears. Then there were Assyrians 
with brazen helmets, linen cuirasses, clubs, lances, and short 
swords; Bactrians with cane bows; trousered Sacae with pointed 
hats, and carrying axes; Indians clad in cotton, Caspians in goat 
skin; Sarangians wearing dyed garments and high boots; Ethio- 
pians clad in lion-skins or leopard-skins and armed with primitive 
stone-pointed arrows; Sagartians with dagger and lasso; Thra- 
cians with fox-skin caps; Colchians with cow-skin shields. The 
fleet was furnished by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cypriotes, 
Cilicians, Pamphylians, Lycians, Carians, and subject Greeks. 
It is said to have consisted of 1207 warships, with 3000 smaller 
vessels. The whole host is said to have reached to upwards of 
5,000,000. It is needless to say that these numbers are wholly 
fabulous. The land forces may have amounted to 300,000 — 
hardly more. 

From Doriscus, Xerxes proceeded to Therma with his fabulous 
Aug., 480 b.c. host, drinking rivers dry in their march, and there he was joined 
by his fleet, which had been separated from him while it sailed 
round Sithonia and Pallene. Most of the incidents which Herodo- 
tus recounts concerning this march of Xerxes are pleasing stories, 
designed to characterize the barbarian and the despot, and to en- 
hance the danger and the glory of Hellas. 

2. Preparations of Greece. — In the meantime, Greece was 
making counter-preparations. Xerxes is said to have despatched 
from Sardis heralds to all the Greek states, except Athens and 
Sparta, to demand earth and water. These two cities now joined 
hands to resist the invasion. They were naturally marked out as 
the leaders of Greece in Greece's greatest crisis: Sparta by virtue 



PREPARATIONS OF GREECE 



141 



of her generally acknowledged headship, Athens by the prestige 
which she had won at Marathon. They jointly convened an Hel- 
lenic congress at Corinth on the Isthmus to consult on the 
measures to be taken for common resistance to the threatened 
invasion. This is the first instance of anything that can be called 
a deliberate Panhellenic policy. At this Congress of Corinth over 
which Sparta presided, thirty-one states bound themselves to- 
gether in a formal confederation by taking a solemn oath that they 



Autumn, 
481 B.C. 



mm. 



u *&> 






H*M?^ 



Doriscus 



Mm 



' ^trxejjjeit" 



CHERSON^SUS 
AW. IMBROSfi£2>' 
Athos ^y, 

LEMNOS^ y^ 1 



■pfopontis 






.,,'.'€ 



* fjt 



!M 



V 



%h„ 



iArtemisium 



.ft. 



SftV 



\%%ff\ Patriotic States 

<f| Neutral or Medising States 

JJ!\ Extent of Ionic Revolt 
M arc h of Mardonius and of 'Xerxes — 



o 
RHODES^ 



The Persian Wars 



would " tithe those who uncompelled submitted " to the barbarian, 
for the benefit of the Delphic god. This was a way of vowing 
that they would utterly destroy such traitors. A great many 
states, the Thessalians, most of the Boeotian cities, besides the 
smaller peoples of northern Greece, — Locrians,Malians, Achaeans, 
Dolopians, and others — took no part in this congress. These 
northern states would be first invaded by the Persian, and it was 



142 THE PERILS OF GREECE 

hopeless for them to think of withstanding him alone. Unless 
they could absolutely rely on Sparta and her confederates to sup- 
port them in defending the northern frontier of Thessaly, nothing 
would be left for them but to submit. 

One of the great hindrances to joint action was the existence of 
domestic disputes. The Congress attempted to reconcile such 
feuds, and Athens and ^Egina laid aside their enmity to fight to- 
gether for Grecian freedom. Another important question con- 
cerned the command of the confederate forces. The claim of Sparta 
to the leadership of the army was at once admitted. The ques- 
tion as to the fleet was not so clear. Athens, which would furnish 
more ships than any other state, had a fair claim. But the other 
cities were jealous of Athens; they declared that they would sub- 
mit only to a Spartan leader. King Leonidas was leader of the 
confederate army, and Eurybiadas, a Spartan who did not belong 
to either of the royal families, was chosen commander of the 
confederate fleet. 

Envoys went forth to enlist new confederates — to win over 
Argos, which had sent no delegates to the Isthmus ; and to obtain 
promises of assistance from Crete, Corcyra, and Syracuse. None 
of these embassies led to anything. Gelon, the great tyrant of 
Syracuse, was himself absorbed by the prospect of an attack of the 
Carthaginians, and, even if he had wished, could have sent no aid 
to the mother-country. 

The Greeks had abundance of time for their preparations. 
Athens probably threw herself with more energy into the work than 
any other city. She recalled those distinguished citizens whom 
the vote of ostracism had driven into banishment during the last 
ten years. Aristides and Xanthippus returned home; and the 
city seems to have soon shown its confidence in their patriotism 
by choosing them as generals. 

3. Battle of Artemisium. — About the time when Xerxes reached 
the Hellespont, the Thessalians sent a message to the confederacy, 
suggesting that the pass of Tempe should be defended against the 



BATTLE OF ARTEMIS1UM 1 43 

invading army. Accordingly, ten thousand hoplites were sent. 
But when they arrived at the spot, they found that there were other 
passes from Macedonia into Thessaly, by which the Persians would 
be more likely to come. Hence the defense of Tempe was aban- 
doned, and the troops left Thessaly. This desertion necessarily 
drove all the northern Greeks to signify their submission to Xerxes 
by the offering of earth and water. 

The next feasible point of defense was Thermopylae, a narrow 
pass between the sea and mountain, separating Trachis from 
Locris. It was the gate to all eastern Greece south of Mount 
Oeta. At the eastern and at the western end the pass, in those 
days, was extremely narrow, and in the center the Phocians had 
constructed a wall as a barrier against Thessalian incursions. It 
was possible for an active band of men, if they were prevented 
from proceeding by Thermopylae, to take a rough and steep way 
over the mountains and so reach the Locrian road. It was there- 
fore needful for a general who undertook the defense of Ther- 
mopylae to secure this path, lest a detachment should be sent round 
to surprise him in the rear. 

The Greeks determined to defend Thermopylae, and Leonidas 
marched thither at the head of his army. He had about 7000 men, 
including 4000 from Peloponnesus, 1000 Phocians, 400 Thebans, 
700 Thespians, and the Locrians in full force. So far as the 
Peloponnesians were concerned, this was only a small portion of 
their forces, and we may suspect that but for Athens they would 
have abandoned northern Greece entirely and concentrated them- 
selves at once on the defense of the Isthmus. But they were de- 
pendent on Athens because her fleet was so strong, and they were 
therefore obliged to consider her interests. To surrender Ther- 
mopylae and retire to the Isthmus meant the surrender of Attica. 
But the hearts of the Spartans were really set on the ultimate de- 
fense of the Isthmus, and not on the protection of the northern 
states. They attempted to cover this selfish and short-sighted 
policy by the plea that they were hindered from marching forth in 



144 THE PERILS 0F GREECE 

full force by the celebration of the Carnean festival; they alleged 
that the soldiers of Leonidas were only an advance guard — the 
rest would soon follow. 

As the Persian land and sea forces always operated together, 
it was certain that the Persians would endeavor to sail between 
Eubcea and the mainland; and therefore, while the Greek hoplites 
held the pass under Thermopylae, the Greek fleet took up its sta- 
tion at Artemisium, on the northern point of Eubcea, to dispute the 
entrance into the Malian Gulf. It numbered three hundred and 
twenty-four triremes and nine penteconters — the Athenians 
contributing two hundred. Fifty-three Athenian vessels which 
did not take part in the first fighting were probably left to guard the 
southern entrance to the narrows, lest the Persians should send 
round part of their fleet east of Eubcea, and, coming up the Euripus, 
thus cut off the Greek retreat. 

Toward the end of August the Persian army reached Thermopylae 
and the Persian fleet drew up near Cape Sepias on the Magnesian 
coast. A storm arose, and in that exposed and crowded anchor- 
age, four hundred of the Persian ships were destroyed. Neverthe- 
less the Greeks were inclined to retreat, but the Eubceans, desiring 
the protection of the fleet, gave Themistocles thirty talents to 
bribe the commanders into remaining. He distributed eight 
talents, according to Herodotus, and kept the rest. In spite of 
their losses the Persians still far outnumbered the Greeks, and were 
able to detach a squadron of two hundred to sail around Eubcea 
and attack the Greeks in the rear. When the Greeks learned of 
this, they determined to sail back to meet these vessels, after de- 
livering an attack on the main body of the Persian fleet. In this 
attack they were successful and captured thirty vessels, and on the 
following morning learned that the Persian squadron had been 
wrecked in its passage around Eubcea. Therefore, since they were 
in no danger of being cut off, the Greeks remained at Artemisium. 

4. Battle of Thermopylae. — Meanwhile, Leonidas had taken 
up his post at Thermopylae. The duty of guarding the by : road 



BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE 



145 



23^.\LoDgitude East from Greenwich 




over the mountain was assigned to the Phocians ; and six thousand 
determined men prepared to hold the lower pass, behind the old 
Phocian wall which had been repaired. Xerxes waited four days, 
in hope that they would 
retreat; on the fifth he at- 
tacked, and the Hellenic 
spearmen drove back the 
Asiatic archers. On the 
next day the result was 
the same, though Xerxes' 
own bodyguard, "the Im- 
mortals," attempted to 
storm the pass. Herodo- 
tus says that Xerxes Thermopyl^: and Artemisium 

"sprang thrice from his throne in agony for his army." It was 
then decided to send the Immortals, under Hydarnes, their 
commander, to force the mountain road, guided by a Malian 
Greek named Ephialtes. By a night march they reached the crest 
of the pass at dawn and surprised the Phocians, who fled up the 
hills. The Immortals pressed on, but meanwhile Leonidas was 
informed of the movement. At a council of war it was decided 
to send the bulk of the little army out of the pass, retaining only the 
Spartans, Thebans, and Thespians — some fourteen hundred men. 
The pass runs east and west. Leonidas and his three hundred 
Spartans undertook to hold the Phocian wall against the main 
army of Xerxes, while the rest were sent to defend the eastern 
end against the force that had crossed the mountain. 

The action of Leonidas must not be considered as a mere throw- 
ing away of life. If the part of his army which he sent back had 
been able to overpower the Immortals when they came down 
from the mountain, the negligence of the Phocians might have 
been retrieved. But it was at best a forlorn hope, and the 
Immortals were victorious, killing, it is said, four thousand 
Greeks in all, and forcing their way into the eastern entrance 

L 



146 THE PERILS OF GREECE 

over the Thebans and Thespians. The Spartans were the last to 
fall. 

They had fought on this day as men desperate. No longer con- 
tent with repelling assaults, they rushed out on the enemy from 
behind their wall, charging into the mass with terrible effect. 
Leonidas fell, and an Homeric battle raged over his body. But at 
length the defenders were forced back behind the wall. Then, as 
the Immortals broke in from behind, they drew together on to a 
hillock, where they made their last stand, to be surrounded and 
cut down by overwhelming numbers. 

The news of Thermopylae speedily reached the fleet at Artemis- 
ium. The Greeks forthwith weighed anchor and sailed through 
the Euripus to the shores of Attica. 

5. The Persian Advance. The Capture of Athens. — Having 
thus succeeded in breaking through the inner gate of Hellas, and 
having slain the king of the leading state, Xerxes continued his 
way and passed from Locris into Phocis and thence into Bceotia, 
meeting with no resistance. The Thebans and most of the other 
Boeotians now submitted to the Persians. 

When the Athenians returned from Artemisium, they found 
that the main body of the Peloponnesian army was gathered at the 
Isthmus and engaged in building a wall from sea to sea. Thus 
Bceotia and Attica were unprotected. Themistocles and his 
Athenian colleagues decided to evacuate Athens. They made a 
proclamation that all the citizens should embark in the triremes, 
and that all who could should convey their families and belongings 
to places of safety. This was done. The women and children 
were transported to Trcezen, vEgina, and Salamis. This bold 
and wise policy of embarkation was dictated by the circumstances, 
but it was supposed to have been based on an oracle, which fore- 
told that all Attica would be destroyed "save for a wooden wall," 
which was held to point to the ships. The story went on that 
certain of the poorer citizens insisted on taking the oracle literally, 
and remained in the citadel behind a wooden barricade. Probably 



BATTLE OF SAL AMIS 1 47 

the natural strength of the Acropolis led to a hope that it might 
be held, and the story was invented later. 

Meanwhile, the allied fleet had stationed itself in the bay of Sala- 
mis, and it was reenforced by new contingents, so that it reached 
the total strength of three hundred and seventy-eight triremes and 
seven penteconters. 

Xerxes arrived at Athens about the same time that his fleet c. Sept 9. 
sailed into the roadstead of Phaleron. He found the town empty, 
but for the small band which had intrenched itself on the Acropolis. 
Persian troops occupied the lower height of the Areopagus, which 
is severed from the Acropolis by a broad saddle, and succeeded in 
setting the wooden barricade on fire by means of burning arrows. 
The garrison rolled stones down on them, and such is the natural 
strength of the Acropolis that the siege lasted two weeks. Then the 
Persians managed to ascend on the precipitous north side by a 
secret path. The Greeks were slain, the temples plundered and 
burned. 

6. The Battle of Salamis. — After the fall of the Acropolis the 
Greek admirals held a council of war, and it was carried by the 
votes of the majority that they should retreat to the Isthmus, since 
they would there be in close touch with the land forces and have 
the Peloponnesus as a retreat in case of defeat, whereas at Salamis 
they would be entirely cut off. This decision meant the abandon- 
ment of /Egina, Salamis, and Megara. Themistocles determined 
to thwart it. He went privately to Eurybiadas and convinced 
him that it would be much more advantageous to fight in the 
narrow waters of the Salaminian channel than in the open bay of 
the Isthmus, where the superior speed and number of the hostile 
ships would tell. A new council was summoned at which The- 
mistocles, in order to carry his point, had to threaten that the 
Athenians, who were half the fleet, would cease to cooperate with 
their allies and seek new homes in some western land, if a retreat 
to the Isthmus were decided upon. 

The southern entrance to the narrow sound between Salamis 



148 



THE PERILS OF GREECE 



and Attica is blocked by the islet of Psyttalea and the long promon- 
tory which runs out from Salamis to meet the mainland. The 
Greek fleet was anchored close to the town of Salamis, north of this 
promontory. Xerxes moved his armament so as to enclose the 
ingress of the straits, and at the same time occupied Psyttalea. 
This movement, carried out in the afternoon, alarmed the Greeks; 
the Peloponnesian commanders brought pressure to bear on Eury- 




s A R Wk 2V 1 c 



The Battle of Salamis 

biadas; another council was called, and Themistocles saw that the 
hard-won result of his previous exertions would now be overthrown. 
He therefore determined on a bold stroke. Leaving the council, 
he despatched a slave to the Persian camp bearing a message from 
himself, as a well-wisher to Xerxes, that the Greeks purposed to 
sail away in the night. If they were prevented from doing so, a 
Persian victory was certain, owing to the disunion which existed 
in the Hellenic camp. This message was believed, and Xerxes 



THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 1 49 

took his measures at nightfall to hinder the Greek fleet from 
escaping by the western straits between Salamis and the Megarid. 
He sent his two hundred Egyptian ships to round the southern 
promontory of Salamis and place themselves so that they could 
bar the straits, if necessary. 

The Greek generals, meanwhile, were engaged in hot discussion. 
Suddenly Themistocles was called out from the council. It was 
his rival Aristides who had sailed across from ^gina and brought 
the news that the fleet was surrounded by the enemy. Themis- 
tocles made Aristides inform the generals of what had happened, 
and the tidings was presently confirmed by a Tenian ship which 
deserted from the Persians. Thus Themistocles and the Per- 
sians forced the Greeks to fight at Salamis. 

At break of day the Greeks began to advance. The Phoenician c. Sept. 20. 
galleys moved to meet them in column formation while the other 
tw T o divisions of the Persian fleet probably remained as they were. 
The fighting began on the Greek left, and it was here, upon the 
Athenians and Phoenicians, that the main stress of the battle fell. 
The want of space hindered the Persians from overwhelming their 
foes with superior numbers; the attempts they made to crowd 
ships into the strait were disastrous to themselves. Meanwhile, 
the object of the Greek right was to force a way out of the sound 
through the enemy's line, in order to attack in the rear. It was the 
task of the ^ginetans to round the point of the jutting promontory 
of Salamis, and assail the left wing of the enemy stationed about 
Psyttalea. They succeeded in breaking through, and at a later 
stage we find them cutting off the retreat of fugitive Persian ships. 
It is probable that, having discomfited the Ionians, they delivered 
a flank attack on the Phoenician column; but in any case their 
success rendered the position of the Phoenicians untenable, and 
decided the battle. 

The Persians, under the eyes of their king, fought with great 
bravery, but they were badly led and the place of the combat was 
unfavorable to them. Their numbers were only an encumbrance. 



150 THE PERILS OF GREECE 

7. Consequences of Salamis. — The victory of Salamis was a 
crushing blow to Persia's naval power, and it was followed by the 
desertion of the Phoenician contingent. But the Greek story, 
which represented Xerxes as fleeing back to the Hellespont in wild 
terror, misrepresents the situation. His land army had met with 
no reverse and was overwhelmingly superior in numbers : it should 
still be able to subjugate Greece. What Xerxes had to fear was a 
rising in Ionia, when the news of the naval defeat reached that 
province. Accordingly the Persian fleet was sent to the Helles- 
pont to guard the bridge, while Xerxes with sixty thousand men 
marched back through Thessaly and Macedonia, thus keeping open 
the line of communications. The land forces were placed under 
the command of Mardonius, who, as the season was now advanced, 
determined to postpone further operations till the spring, and to 
winter in Thessaly. 

Meanwhile, the Greeks had failed to follow up their victory. 
Cleombrotus, the Spartan regent, was about to advance from the 
Isthmus with the purpose of aiming a blow at the retreating col- 
Oct 2 480 umns of the Persian forces before they reached Bceotia. But as he 
b.c., 2 p.m. was sacrificing, before setting out, the sun was totally eclipsed, 
and this ill omen made him desist from his plan and march back 
to the Peloponnesus. 

Great was the rejoicing in Greece over the brilliant victory which 
was so little hoped for. The generals met at Isthmus to distribute 
the booty and adjudge rewards. The iEginetans received the 
choice lot of the spoil for bravery; the Athenians were adjudged 
the second place. In adjudging the prizes for wisdom, each cap- 
tain wrote down two names in order of merit. The story is that 
each wrote his own name first and that of Themistocles second, 
and that consequently there was no prize, for a second could not 
be given, unless a first were also awarded. 

8. Preparations for Another Campaign. — In the following 
479 b.c. spring Mardonius was joined by Artabazus and the troops who had 

conducted Xerxes to the Hellespont. The total number of his 



PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER CAMPAIGN 



151 




The Invasion of Xerxes 



forces is unknown; it is said to have been three hundred thousand. 
Mardonius, well aware of the fatal division of interests between the 
Athenians and Peloponnesians, sent an honorable ambassador, 
King Alexander of Mace- 
don himself, to Athens. 
He undertook to repair all 
the injuries suffered by her 
from the Persian occupa- 
tion, to help her to gain 
new territory, and asked 
only for her alliance as an 
equal and independent 
power. The offer was 
tempting, and the Atheni- 
ans had good reason to 
distrust their allies. But 
" Tell Mardonius," they said to Alexander, " that the Athenians 
say: so long as the sun moves in his present course, we will 
never come to terms with Xerxes." 

The embassy of Alexander enabled Athens to exert stronger 
pressure on the Peloponnesians, with a view to the defense of 
northern Greece ; and the Spartans promised that an army should 
march into Bceotia. But soon after the embassy of Alexander, 
they had completed the walling of the Isthmus, and, feeling secure, 
they took no thought of fulfilling their promise. In the mean- 
time, Mardonius had set his army in motion and advanced into 
Bceotia, with the purpose of reoccupying Attica. Once more the 
Athenians had to leave their land and remove their families and 
property to the refuge of Salamis. Mardonius still hoped to detach 
the Athenians from the Greek cause. If they would now accept 
his former offers, he would retreat from their land, leaving it un- 
ravaged. But even at this extremity, the Athenians rejected the 
insidious propositions. Immediately, the three northern states 
which had not yielded to the.Mede — Athens, Megara, and Plataea 



152 



THE PERILS OF GREECE 



— sent ambassadors to Sparta, to insist upon an army marching 
at once to oppose Mardonius in Attica, with the threat that other- 
wise there would be nothing for it but to come to terms with the 
foe. At last the Lacedaemonian government suddenly changed its 
policy and despatched a force of 5000 Spartans, each at- 
tended by some Helots, to northern Greece. Never since, never 
perhaps before, did so large a body of Spartan citizens take the 
field at once. They were followed by 5000 periceci, each attended 
by one Helot. The command was intrusted to Pausanias, who 
was acting as regent for his child-cousin Pleistarchus, son of the 
hero of Thermopylae. At the Isthmus, the Lacedaemonian army 
was joined by the troops of the Peloponnesian allies, and by con- 
tingents from Eubcea, JEgina,, and western Greece; in theMegarid 
they were reenforced by the Megarians, and at Eleusis by Aristides 
in command of 8000 Athenians and 600 Plataeans. It was en- 
tirely an army of foot 
soldiers, and the total 
number, including 
light-armed troops, 
may have approached 
70,000. 

9. The Battle of 
Plataea. — The field on 
which the fate of 
Greece was decided is 
bounded on the north 
by the river Asopus 
and on the south by 
Mount Cithaeron. The 
town of Plataea is in 
the extreme southwest 
of this section; and 
the land between it 
and the river is cut 




Ww& 



SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
~k 1 



Battle of Plat^a 



BATTLE OF MYCALE AND CAPTURE OF SESTOS 1 53 

up by hilly ridges and many streams. On this most difficult 
field Pausanias attempted to manceuver the allied forces under 
him. Hesitancy, mistakes, and actual disobedience character- 
ized the movements of the first two days. On the third day, 
at dawn, seeing the Greeks in confusion, Mardonius, in full force, 
attacked the Spartans under the walls of Plataea. After some 
delay, to insure favorable omens, the Spartans charged ; and in a 
hotly fought action killed Mardonius and drove his troops back 
toward the river. The remainder of the Greek forces then came 
up and drove the disorganized Persians across the Asopus, and 
plundered their camp. The slain Greek warriors were buried 
before the gates of Plataea, and the honor of celebrating their 
memory by annual sacrifice was assigned to the Plataeans. Pau- 
sanias called the host together, and in the name of the Spartans 
and all the confederacy guaranteed to Plataea political independence 
and the inviolability of her town and territory. The hour of 
triumph for Plataea was an hour of humiliation for Thebes. Ten 
days after the battle, the army advanced against the chief Boeotian 
city and demanded the surrender of the leaders of the party 
favorable to the Persians. These were given up, by their own 
wish, for they calculated on escaping punishment by the in- 
fluence of bribery. But Pausanias caused them to be executed, 
without trial, at Corinth. 

10. Battle of Mycale and Capture of Sestos. — The battle of 
Plataea shares with Salamis the dignity of being decisive battles 
in the world's history. The poet Pindar links them together as 
the great triumphs of Sparta and Athens respectively. Notwith- 
standing the immense disadvantage of want of cavalry, the Lace- 
daemonians had turned at Plataea a retreat into a victory. The 
remarkable feature of the battle was that it was decided by a small 
part of either army. Sparta and Tegea were the actual victors; 
and on the Persian side forty thousand men had not entered into 
the action at all. On the death of Mardonius, Artabazus immedi- 
ately faced about and began without delay the long march back to 



154 THE PERILS OF GREECE 

the Hellespont. Never again was Persia to make a serious at- 
tempt against the liberty of European Greece. For the following 
century and a half, the dealings between Greece and Persia only 
affected the western fringe of Asia, and then Alexander of Mace- 
don achieved against the Asiatic monarchy what Xerxes failed 
to achieve against the free states of Europe. 
The achievement of the Hellenic army was followed in a few 

Aug., 479 b.c. days by an achievement of the Hellenic fleet which delivered the 
Asiatic Greeks from their master. The Greek fleet, which had 
gone to Delos, under the Spartan King Leotychidas, moved by 
a message from the Samians, crossed to Cape Mycale where they 
landed, attacked, carried, and burned the Persian camp. Mycale 
followed so close on Plataea, that the belief easily arose that the 
two victories were won on the same afternoon. 

The Athenians and Ionians, led by the Athenian Xanthippus, 
followed up the great victory by vigorous action in the Hellespont, 
while the Peloponnesians with Leotychidas, content with what 
they had achieved, returned home. The difference between the 
cautious policy of Sparta and the imperial instinct of Athens is 
here momentously expressed. The Lacedaemonians were unwill- 
ing to concern themselves further with the Greeks of the eastern 
and northeastern ^gean; the Athenians were both capable of 

478 b.c. taking a Panhellenic point of view, and were also moved by 

the impulse to extend their own influence. The strong fortress 
of Sestos, which stood by the straits of Helle, was beleaguered 
and taken ; and with this event Herodotus closes his history of 
the Persian wars. The fall of Sestos was the beginning of that 
Athenian empire, to which Pisistratus and the elder Miltiades 
had pointed the way. 

1 1 . Gelon, Tyrant of Syracuse. — While the eastern Greeks were 
securing their future development against the Persian foe, the 
western Greeks had been called upon to defend themselves against 
that Asiatic power with which they had to struggle in the western 
Mediterranean. Greek offshoots from the Phocaean colony of Mas- 




GELON, TYRANT OF SYRACUSE 1 55 

salia (Marseilles) clashed with Phoenician trading ports in Corsica, 
and even on the coast of Spain. But above all, in Sicily Greek in- 
fluence threatened the dominion and trade of Carthage; and when 
Carthage made her great attempt to secure ascendency in Sicily, 
she was acting in concert with, though independently of, Xerxes 
against the common enemy. 

Between 490 and 480 B.C., Greek Sicily was dominated by four 
tyrants; of the four, the greatest was Gelon, who first made him- 491 b.c. 
self lord of Gela, and then of Syracuse. 
He may be called the second founder of 
Syracuse, which he made by far the great- 
est Greek city in the west. The island of 
Ortygia had been joined by a mole to the 
mainland, so that the city was now on a 
peninsula. Gelon built a wall, enclosing in 
one circuit Ortygia and the fortified height of Coin of Gela, 

Achradina which looked down upon it. Early (Obverse) 

, i i i r o Bull with Hu- 

He also constructed docks, for Syracuse MAN Head fore- 

was to be a naval power, and he brought in part [Legend : 

half the citizens of Gela, all from the neigh- teaas] 

boring city of Camarina, and drew population from other subject 

towns. He allied himself by marriage to Theron of Acragas. 

Theron, supported by Gelon, crossed Sicily to the north and 
drove Terillus out of Himera. Terillus appealed for help to 
Carthage, which she was glad to grant. And therefore, when mes- 
sengers from Greece came to Sicily for aid, before the invasion 
of Xerxes, they found the power of Gelon and the other Greeks 
fully occupied. Carthage sent a great fleet and army which landed 
at Panormus and moved along the coast to besiege Himera, which 
was defended by Theron. Gelon marched with 50,000 foot and 
5000 horse to relieve the town. 

A great battle was fought outside the walls : the Greek victory 4 s k.c. 
was complete; and Hamilcar, the Carthaginian, himself perished. 
According to the Carthaginian account he stood all day, while the 



156 



THE PERILS OF GREECE 



battle raged, offering sacrifice by the altar of Baal, till at last, 
seeing his host ready to fly, he flung himself as a supreme burnt- 
offering into the fire. The day was not retrieved; but hereafter 
Himera paid dear for the death of Hamilcar. 

The common significance of the battles of Salamis and Himera, 
or the repulse of Asia from Europe, was appreciated at the time 
and naively expressed in the fanciful tradition that the two battles 
were fought on the same day. But Himera, unlike Salamis, was 
immediately followed by a treaty of peace. Carthage paid the 
lord of Syracuse two thousand talents as a war indemnity, but 
this was a small treasure compared with the booty taken in the 





Coin of Syracuse, Fifth Century. Obverse: Head of Victory, Dol- 
phins [Legend: sypako^ion]. Reverse: Quadriga crowned by 
Victory; Below, a Lion 

camp. Out of a portion of that spoil a beautiful issue of large 
silver coins was minted ; and some pieces of this memorial of the 
great deliverance of Sicily are preserved. 

47 8 b.c. I2 - Syracuse under Hieron. — When Gelon died, he left the 

fruits of his enterprise and statesmanship to his brother Hieron. 
Hieron completed the victory over Carthage by defeating the other 
power which threatened western Greece. The Etruscans aimed 
at the possession of Cyme, northernmost of Greek cities on the 
Italian coast, and were besieging it, when Hieron's Syracusan fleet 

474 b.c sailed to the spot and routed them : and the Tuscan power ceased 

to be a menace. We possess a bronze helmet from the spoil sent 



SYRACUSE UNDER HIERON 1 57 

by Hieron to Olympia; and the Pythian ode in which Pindar of 
Thebes immortalized the victory. 

It is perhaps from the hymns of Pindar that we win the most 
lively impressions of the wealth and culture of the courts of Sicily 
in the fifth century. Pindar, like other illustrious poets of the day, 
Simonides and Bacchylides, and /Eschylus, visited Sicily, to bask in 
the smiles, and receive the gifts, of the tyrant. The king of Syra- 
cuse sent his race-horses and chariots to contend in the great games 




Helmet dedicated by Hieron (in British Museum). [Inscription: 

'Idpwv 6 Aeivo/u.et'eos *cat roi Svpaxoerioi tJ> Al Tvp(p)dv' oltto Kvnas] 

at Olympia and Delphi, and he employed the most gifted lyric 
poets to celebrate these victories in lordly odes. Pindar and Bac- 
chylides were sometimes set to celebrate the same victory in rival 
strains. These poets give us an impression of the luxury and 
magnificence of the royal courts and the generosity of the royal 
victors. 

Yet though the Syracusan cities might seem fair, the despotisms 
were oppressive. Hieron was famous for his system of spies. 



158 THE PERILS OF GREECE 

Theron slaughtered the men of Himera who opposed the rule of 
his son Thrasydaeus. After Theron's death, Thrasydseus quar- 
reled with Hieron, fought, and was defeated. In the hour of his 
reverse, Himera became independent, and Acragas, his greater 
city, adopted a free constitution. Hieron, likewise, was succeeded 
by a less able ruler, Thrasybulus, against whom the citizens rose 
in mass, and drove him out. The overthrow of tyranny at Syra- 
cuse was followed by a civil war between the old citizens and the 
new, whom Gelon had imported from all quarters. In the end 
all the strangers were driven out and the democracy of Syracuse 
was securely established. The next half -century was a period of 
prosperity for the Sicilian republics, especially for the greatest 
among them, Syracuse and Acragas, and for Selinus, now freed 
from the Phoenician yoke. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 82-83) 

1. The Invasion of Xerxes. Thermopylae and Salamis. 

Bury, 265-269. Holm, II, ch. iv. Harrison, J. A., Story of Greece, 
335-389, contains a vivid and dramatic narrative of the invasions. 
The Persian invasions are treated in so great detail in the larger 
histories that it is difficult to assign topics : it is therefore suggested 
that the teacher make assignments from some of the sources, 
particularly from Herodotus. 
Sources. Herodotus, VII, 61-70 (Preparations of Xerxes) ; VII, 207- 
213, 223-226 (Thermopylae and Artemisium) ; VIII, 56-64, 78, 
79, 87-91 (Salamis). Botsford, 133-134, gives an account of 
Salamis from The Persians of ^Eschylus. 

2. Plataea. 

Bury, 289-295. Holm, II, iv. 
Sources. Herodotus, VIII, 140-144. Portions of the lives of Aristides 
and Themistocles from Plutarch. 

3. The Carthaginian Invasion of Sicily. 

Bury, 296-308. Holm, II, 78-89. Abbott, 439-446. 
Source. Herodotus, VII, 163-167. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE FOUNDATION OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

i. The Position of Sparta and Career of Pausanias. — For the 

last forty years Sparta had been the predominant power in con- 
tinental Greece. Her headship in the common resistance to Per- 
sia was recognized without murmur or dispute. A great national 
enterprise, conducted under her auspices to a splendid conclusion, 
should have enabled her to convert leadership into dominion. 
But Lacedaemon had not the spirit to carry out an effective im- 
perial policy. For a state which aspired to a truly imperial posi- 
tion in Greece must inevitably be a sea power. When the world 
of free Hellenic states once more extended over the JEgean to the 
skirts of Asia and to Thrace, Sparta might retain her continental 
position, but her prestige must ultimately be eclipsed and her 
power menaced by any city which won imperial authority over 
the islands and coasts of the JEgean. This was what happened. 

The Spartans were a people unable to adapt themselves to new 
conditions. Reforms were unwelcome; a man of exceptional 
ability was regarded with suspicion. The formation of a navy 
would have seemed to them as unpractical an idea as an expedition 
against the capital of Persia. And if we follow their conduct of 
the recent war, we see that their policy was petty and provincial. 
They had generally acted at the last moment; their view was so 
limited by the smaller interests of the Peloponnesus that again 
and again they almost betrayed the national cause. 

Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus, had shown, it must be al- 
lowed, remarkable military ability in conducting the campaign 
of Plataea. But his talents as a politician were not equal to his 

i59 



l60 FOUNDATION OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

talents as a general. Sparta sent him out, in command of a squad- 
ron of ships supplied by her allies, to continue the work of eman- 

478 b.c. cipating the eastern Greeks. He sailed first to Cyprus and was 

successful in delivering the greater part of the island from Persian 
rule. He then proceeded to Byzantium and expelled the Persian 
garrison. But here he behaved more as a tyrant than as a gen- 
eral. It was said that he adopted the Persian dress, employed an 
Asiatic bodyguard in his journey through Thrace, and even offered 
to enslave his own state and all Hellas to Xerxes, and to seal the 
compact by marrying his daughter. When this was reported at 
Sparta, he was recalled to answer the charges. The intrigue, how- 
ever, could not be proved, and he was only punished for some acts 
of injury he had done to particular persons. Although he was not 
sent out again officially, he hired a trireme for himself and returned 
to the Propontus, where he resumed possession of Byzantium, 

477 b.c. and succeeded in capturing Sestos. This was too much for the 

Athenians, and they sent a squadron under Cimon, the son of 

476 b.c Miltiades, which recovered Sestus and drove Pausanias out of 

Byzantium. 

The Spartan government again summoned Pausanias home. 
He obeyed the summons, believing he could secure his acquittal 
by bribes. The ephors threw him into prison ; but it was difficult 
to procure evidence of his guilt. He was released, and challenged 
inquiry. It was suspected that he had not only negotiated with 
Persia, but had prepared the way for a revolt of the Helots by 
promising them emancipation. But there were not clear enough 
proofs to act upon, until a confidential servant turned informer. 
But before he could be seized, Pausanias took refuge in the temple 

471 b.c (?) °f Athena. Unable to arrest him in the sanctuary, the ephors 
walled up the doors and starved him to death. As he was dying 
they brought him out, and by the command of the Delphic god he 
was buried at the entrance of the sacred enclosure. But the star- 
vation within the precincts was an offense against the goddess, 
and brought a curse upon the Spartans. The career of Pausanias 



CONFEDERACY OF DELOS l6l 

is typical of the Spartan abroad; and it has a parallel in 
the result of Sparta's attempt to extend her power on land. She 
cast her eyes upon Thessaly, and sent forth an army under King 476 b.c. 
Leotychidas, who landed in the Pagasaean bay. But, like many a 
Spartan general, he could not resist silver and gold; and the 
Thessalian princes saved their power by bribing the invader. 
His guilt was evident, and when he returned home he was con- 
demned to death. He saved himself by fleeing to Athena's sanc- 
tuary at Tegea. 

Sparta was soon compelled to fight for her position within the 
Peloponnesus itself. Argos had now recovered somewhat from 
the annihilating blow which had been dealt her 
by King Cleomenes. On the other side, Sparta 
had to behold the union of the villages of Elis 

into a city with a democratic constitution, f tSL^HikSU 472 b.c. 
And even in Arcadia she was constrained reluc- 
tantly to recognize the new union of the Manti- 

nean villages. 

b Coin of Elis, 

Thus the Persian War left Sparta much where Early (Re- 
she was before. In the meantime, another city verse). Vic- 
had been advancing with rapid strides along rL 

a new path, compassing large enterprises, and gend: FA(keiw)] 
establishing a large empire. 

2. The Confederacy of Delos. — The lukewarmness of Sparta, 
exhibited in her failure to follow up the battle of Mycale, had in- 478-477 b.c 
duced the Ionian and other Asiatic Greeks to place themselves 
under the leadership of Athens. Thus was formed the voluntary 
confederation out of which an Athenian empire was to rise. The 
object was not only to protect the rescued cities from reconquest 
by the barbarian, but also to plunder the country of the Great 
King. The treasury of the league was established in the sacred 
Island of Delos, the ancient center of Ionian worship, and it was 
hence called the Confederacy of Delos. The recapture of Sestos 
was its first achievement. 

M 




1 62 FOUNDATION OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

The league included the Ionian and ^Eolian cities of Asia; 
the islands adjacent to the coast from Lesbos to Rhodes ; a large 
number of towns on the Propontis, and some in Thrace ; most of 
the Cyclades; and Eubcea except its southern city Carystus. It 
was a league of sea-states, and therefore the basis of the contract 
was that each state should furnish ships to the common fleet. But 
most of the members were small and poor ; many could not equip 
more than one or two ships; many could do no more than con- 
tribute a part of the expense to the furnishing of a single galley. 
To gather together a number of small and scattered contingents 
at a fixed time and place was always a matter of difficulty: nor 
was such a miscellaneous armament easily managed. It was 
therefore arranged that the smaller states, instead of furnishing 
ships, should pay a yearly sum of money to a common treasury. 
The valuation of the wealth of the confederate cities and the deter- 
mination of the " contribution " of each were devolved upon 
Aristides, whose discretion, and the respect in which he was held, 
fitted him eminently for the task. His valuation remained in 
force for more than fifty years. Thus from the very beginning 
the Confederacy consisted of two kinds of members: those who 
furnished ships and those who paid an equivalent in money — a 
phoros, as it was called; and the second class was far the larger. 
For besides those who could only furnish a ship or two, or even 
part of a ship, many of the larger cities preferred the system of 
money payments, which did not oblige their citizens to leave 
home. The tribute was collected by ten Athenian officers, who 
bore the title of Hellenotamice, " treasurers of the Greeks." The 
council of the Confederates met at Delos, where the treasury was, 
and each member had an equal voice. As leader of the Confed- 
eracy, Athens had the executive entirely in her hands, and it was 
of the highest significance that the treasurers were not selected 
from the whole body of Confederates, but were Athenian citizens. 
Thus, from the first, Athens held the means of gradually trans- 
forming the naval union into a naval empire. 



FORTIFICATION OF ATHENS AND PIILEUS 1 63 

While the name of Aristides is connected most closely with the 
foundation of the Confederacy, there is no doubt that it was due 
to his rival Themistocles that Athens took the tide of fortune at 
the flood. Themistocles had made his city a sea power; and this 
feat approved him the greatest of all her statesmen. He was a 
man of genius. The most reserved of all historians, Thucydides, 
turns aside to praise his unusual natural gifts ; his power of divin- 
ing what was likely to happen, and his capacity for dealing with 
difficult situations. When Athens undertook the leadership and 
entered upon the new paths which then opened out before her, 
she was carrying out a policy of which he had been the clearest and 
earliest interpreter. And, while the fleet was building an empire 
in the east, there was work for him to do amid the ruins of Athens. 

3. The Fortification of Athens and the Piraeus. — After Plataea, 
the Athenians brought back their families and goods to their deso- 
late habitation. Little of the old town wall was still standing, 
and they proceeded to build a new wall. The work was done in 
haste; the material of older buildings and even gravestones were 
used. But this wall of Themistocles — for it was by the advice and 
under the inspiration of Themistocles that the work was wrought — 
embraced a larger circuit than the old enclosure. The Lacedae- 
monians, who looked with jealousy at the rise of the Athenian 
walls, sent an embassy to urge the Athenians to join Sparta in 
demolishing all fortifications in Greece, instead of fortifying their 
own town. But they were not in a position to do more than 
remonstrate. 

The fortification of Piraeus was likewise taken in hand. A thick 
wall was built all round the Munychian peninsula, keeping close 
to the sea, and was continued along the north side of the harbor, 
and out to the promontory of Eetionea. The entrances to this 
£hief harbor and to the two small havens of Munychia and Zea on 
the east side of the peninsula were fortified by moles. 

In the course of the next twenty years, the Athenians came to 
see the disadvantage of the two towns, which ought to have been 



1 

164 FOUNDATION OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

one. It was borne in upon their statesmen that in the case of 
an enemy invading Attica with a powerful army, the communi- 
cations between Athens and the Piraeus might be completely sev- 
ered, and the folk of the city be cut off from their ships. In order 
to meet this danger — which would have been most simply met 
by deserting Athens — a new device was imagined. It was 
resolved to transform the two towns into a double town, girt by 
458 b.c. a continuous line of fortification. Two diverging walls were built 

to connect Athens with the sea. The northern joined the Piraeus 
wall near the harbor; the southern ran down to the roadstead of 
Phaleron. By these Long Walls, costly to build and costly to 
defend, Athens sought to adapt her topography to her role of 
mistress of the sea. 

Her naval power was based upon the only sure foundation 
— a growing naval commerce. This, in its turn,, depended upon 
the increase of Attic industries, which may be estimated by the 
enormous number of resident aliens or metics, who settled in 
Athens, or Piraeus, for the purpose of manufacture and trade. 
These metics, who seem to have ultimately approached the number 
of ten thousand, were liable to the same ordinary burdens as the 
citizens, and, when a property-tax was imposed in time of war, 
they were taxed at a higher rate. 

Themistocles wished to introduce a system by which a certain 
number of triremes should be added to the fleet every year; but 
this idea was not adopted; new ships were built from time to 
time according as they were needed. But a new system of fur- 
nishing them was introduced. The state supplied only the hull 
and some of the rigging ; the duty and expense of fitting the galley, 
launching it completely, and training the oarsmen, were laid upon 
the most wealthy citizens, each in his turn. This public burden 
was called the trierarchy. One hundred and seventy oarsmen 
composed of hired foreigners and slaves, and partly of the poorest 
class of the citizens, propelled each galley; there was a crew of 
twenty men (hyperetai), to manage the vessel, including the 



OSTRACISM AND DEATH OF THEMISTOCLES 1 65 

keleustes, who set the time to the oarsmen; and there were, besides, 
ten soldiers (epibatai). The generals were supreme commanders 
by land and sea alike. 

4. Ostracism and Death of Themistocles. — For some years 
Themistocles divided the guidance of public affairs with Aris- 
tides and Xanthippus. But, like most Greek statesmen, he was 
accessible to bribes, and his vanity betrayed him into commit- 
ting public indiscretions. He built near his own house a shrine 
to "Artemis, wisest in Council," on the ground that the counsels 
which he had offered his country had been wiser than all others. 
Such things gave opponents a handle for attack. The time and 
the immediate causes of the banishment of Themistocles are un- 
certain. He succumbed to a coalition of Aristides and Xanthippus, 
who appealed to the trial of ostracism. The exiled statesman 
took up his abode in Argos. When the Persian intrigues of Pau- *• 472 b.c. 
sanias were disclosed, the Lacedaemonians discovered that Themis- 
tocles was implicated in the scandal. But though Themistocles 
held communications with Pausanias, it is not in the least likely 
that he was really guilty of any design to betray Greece to Persia: 
it is rather to be presumed that those communications were con- 
cerned with the schemes of Pausanias against the Spartan con- 
stitution. He was accused of high treason against his country; 471 b.c. 
men were sent to arrest him and bring him to trial ; and he fled to 
Corcyra. The Corcyraeans refused to keep him, and he crossed 
over to Epirus, pursued by Lacedaemonian and Athenian officers. 
He was forced to stop at the house of Admetus, king of the Molos- 
sians, though his previous relations with this king had not been 
friendly. When the king returned, Themistocles implored his 
protection. Admetus hospitably refused to give him up to the 
pursuers, and sent the fugitive overland to Pydna in Macedonia. 
A vessel carried him to the shores of Ionia. W T hen Xerxes died 4 6 4 1{r - 
and Artaxerxes came to the throne, he went up to Susa and in- 
trigued at the Persian court. Thus, circumstances drove him to 
follow the example of Pausanias; and, by a curious irony, the 



1 66 FOUNDATION OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

two men who might be regarded as the saviours of Greece, the 
hero of Salamis and the hero of Plataea, were perverted into 
framing plans for undoing their own work and enslaving the 
country which they had delivered. It may well have been, how- 
ever, that Themistocles merely intended to compass his own 
advantage at the expense of the Great King, and had no serious 
thought of carrying out any designs against Greece. He won 
high honor in Persia, and was given the government of the dis- 
trict of Magnesia, where Magnesia itself furnished his table with 
bread, Lampsacus with wine, andMyus with meat. Themistocles 
died in Magnesia, and the Magnesians gave him outside their 
walls the resting-place which was denied him in his own country. 
5. Successful Campaigns of the Confederacy of Delos. — The 
conduct of the war which the Confederacy of Delos was waging 
against Persia had been intrusted to Cimon, the son of Miltiades. 
We have seen already how he drove Pausanias out of Sestos 

476 b.c. and Byzantium. His next exploit was to capture Eion, a town 

near the mouth of the Strymon, and the most important strong- 
hold of the Persians east of the Hellespont. Then he reduced the 

474 b.c rocky island of Scyrus, a stronghold of pirates, which was colo- 

nized by Attic settlers. And here was made a famous discovery. 
There was a Delphic oracle which bade the Athenians take up the 
bones of Theseus and keep them in an honorable resting-place ; 
and, whether by chance or after a search, there was found in 
Scyrus a grave containing a warrior's corpse of heroic size. It 
was taken to be the corpse of Theseus; Cimon brought it back 
to Athens; and perhaps none of his exploits earned him greater 
popularity. 

A few years later, Xerxes had equipped a great armament 
— his last resistance to the triumph of Greek arms. Cimon, who 
had been busy in the northern ^gean, now sailed south. He 
delivered both the Greek and the native coast towns of Caria 
from Persian rule, and compelled the Lycian communities to 

468 b.c. enroll themselves in the Confederacy of Delos. Then at the river 



CONFEDERACY OF DELOS 1 67 

Eurymedon in Pamphylia he found the Persian army and the 
Persian fleet, and overcame them in a double battle by land and 
sea, destroying two hundred Phoenician ships. This victory 
sealed the acquisition of southern Asia Minor, from Caria to 
Pamphylia, for the Athenian federation, delivered any Ionian 
cities that still paid tribute to Persia, and freed Greece from all 
danger on the side of the Persian empire. 

6. The Confederacy of Delos becomes an Athenian Empire. — 
The confederate fleet now had other work to do. It had been 
set to make war upon Greek states, which were unwilling to be- 
long to the league. Carystus, which, unlike the other cities of 472 b.c. 
Eubcea, had held aloof from the Confederacy, w r as subjugated, 
and made, in spite of herself, a member of the league. Naxos 469 b.c. 
seceded from the league, and the fleet of the allies reduced her 
by blockade. Each act was defensible, but both acts alike seemed 
to be acts of tyrannical outrage on the independence of free states, 
and were an offense to public opinion in Greece. The oppression 
was all the worse, inasmuch as both Naxos and Carystus were 
deprived of their autonomy. They became in fact subjects of 
Athens, who was already forging the fetters with which she would 
bind her allies. 

The victory of the Eurymedon left Athens free to pursue this 
inevitable policy of transforming the Confederacy into an empire. 
The most powerful confederate state on the Thracian coast was 
the island city of Thasos. Athens was making new endeavors 
to plant a settlement on the Strymon, and her interests collided 
with those of the Thasians, whose prosperity largely depended 
upon their trade in Thrace. A dispute arose about a gold mine, 
and the islanders revolte'd. The fleet of the Thasians was de- 463 b.c 
feated by Cimon, and after a long blockade they capitulated. Their 
walls were pulled down, their ships were handed over to Athens, 
they gave up all claim to the mine and the mainland, and agreed 
to pay whatever tribute was demanded. 

The instances of these three island cities, Carystus, Naxos, 



1 68 FOUNDATION OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

and Thasos, are typical. There were now three classes of mem- 
bers in the Confederacy of Delos: there were (i) the non-tribu- 
tary allies which contributed ships; (2) the tributary allies which 
were independent; and (3) the tributary allies which were sub- 
ject. It was obviously for the interest of Athens that as many 
members as possible should contribute money, and as few as pos- 
sible contribute ships. For the ships which the tribute money 
furnished out were simply an addition to her own fleet, because 
they were under her direct control. She consequently aimed 
at diminishing the members of the first class ; and soon it consisted 
of only the three large and wealthy islands — Lesbos, Chios, and 
Samos. Again, it was to the interest of Athens to transfer the 
members of the second class into the third, and win control over 
the internal affairs of the cities. As a rule, Athens prescribed to 
her subjects the general form of their constitutions, and it need 
hardly be said that these constitutions were always democratic. 
As the process of turning the alliance into an empire advanced, 
Athens found herself able to discontinue the meetings of the con- 
federate assembly in the island of Delos. The formal establish- 
ment of her empire may be dated ten years after the war with 
Thasos, when the treasury of the league was transferred from 
454 b.c. Delos to Athens. The Confederacy of Delos no longer existed; 

and, though the term alliance was always officially used, men no 
longer hesitated to use the word empire in ordinary speech. The 
Athenian empire embraced the /Egean Sea with its northern and 
eastern fringes, from Methone in the northwest to Lycian Phaselis 
in the southeast. The number of cities which belonged to it at 
its height was considerably more than two hundred. 

The Athenian empire was dissolved half a century after the 
transference of the treasury from Delos to Athens. We shall see 
that it began to decline not many years after it had reached the 
height of its power. The first principles of the political thought 
and political life of Greece were opposed to such an union. The 
sovereign city-state was the basis of the civilized Hellenic world, 



POLICY AND OSTRACISM OF CIMON 



169 



and no city-state was ready, if it could help it, to surrender any 
part of its sovereignty. In the face of a common danger, cities 
might be ready to combine together in a league, each parting with 
some of her sovereign powers to a common federal council, but 
preserving the right of secession; and this was the idea of the 
Confederacy of Delos in its initial form. But when the motives 
which induced a city to join a federation became less strong and 
pressing, every member was anxious to regain its complete inde- 
pendence. An empire, however disguised, was always considered 
an injustice. 

7. Policy and Ostracism of Cimon. — As the Persian War 
had brought out more vividly the contrast between Greek and 
barbarian, so the Confederacy of 
Delos emphasized a division exist- 
ing within the Greek race itself, the 
contrast of Dorian and Ionian. 
The Dorian federation of the Pelo- 
ponnesus under the headship of 
Sparta stood over against the Ionian 
federation of the ^Egean under the 
headship of Athens. 

For some years the antagonism 
lay dormant. The danger from 
Persia had not passed away. But 
the preservation of peace was also 
due, in some measure, to Aristides 
and Cimon. The two guiding 
principles of Cimon 's policy were the prosecution of the war 
against Persia and the maintenance of good relations with the 
Lacedaemonians. He upheld the doctrine of dual leadership; 
Athens should be mistress of the seas, but she should recognize 
Sparta as the mistress on the continent. But after the death of 
Aristides, younger statesmen arose and formed a party of opposi- 
tion against Cimon and the oligarchs who rallied around him. 




Portrait Head, perhaps of 
Cimon, on a Gem, en- 
graved by Dexamenus 



170 FOUNDATION OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

The two chief politicians of this democratic party were Ephialtes, 
and Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, who now began to play a 
prominent part in the Assembly. 

Meanwhile, Sparta herself had dealt a blow to Cimon's policy. 
The Spartan citizens lived over a perpetual danger — the discon- 
tent of their Periceci and Helots. An earthquake had laid Sparta 
in ruins, and the moment was chosen by the Messenian serfs 

464 b.c. to shake off the yoke. They annihilated in battle a company of 

three hundred Spartans, but then they were defeated, and sought 
refuge in the stronghold of Ithome. On that steep hill they held 
out for a few years. The Spartans were driven to ask the aid 
of allies. 

The democratic politicians at Athens lifted up their voices against 
the sending of any aid. But the people listened to the counsels 
of Cimon: " We must not leave Hellas lame; we must not allow 
Athens to lose her yoke-fellow." Cimon took four thousand hop- 

462 b.c. Htes to Messenia, but, though the Athenians had a reputation for 

skill in besieging fortresses, their endeavors to take Ithome failed. 
Suspecting treachery, Sparta told the Athenians, alone of all the 
allies who were encamped around the hill, that she required their 
help no more. 

This incident exposed the futility of making sacrifices to court 
Sparta's friendship. When Cimon returned with his policy dis- 
credited, Ephialtes and his party denounced him as a " Philo- 
Laconian," and felt that they could safely attempt to ostracize 
him. An ostracism was held, and Cimon was banished. Soonafter- 

461 b.c ward a mysterious crime was committed. Cimon's chief antag- 

onist Ephialtes was murdered, and no one ever ascertained with 
surety who the murderers were. 

The Athenians had presently an opportunity of retaliating on 
Sparta for her contumely. The blockade of Ithome was con- 

459 b.c tinued,and the rebels at last capitulated. They were allowed to 

leave the Peloponnesus unharmed, on the condition that they 
should never return. The Athenians who had helped to besiege 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 171 

them now found them a shelter. They settled the Messenians 
in a new home at Naupactus, on the Corinthian Gulf, a place 
where Athens had recently established a naval station. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 83-84) 

1. The Position of Sparta. Pausanias. 

Holm, II, 92-95. Abbott, Greece, II, 251-263. 
Source. Thucydides, I, 94-95, 128-134. 

2. The Fortification of Athens and the Fall of Themistocles. 

Holm, II, 89-92, 95-100. Abbott, Greece, II, 267-273, 287-292. Har- 
rison, 362-387. 
Sources. Thucydides, I, 90-94, 136-139. Plutarch, Themistocles. 

3. The Confederacy of Delos and the Beginnings of the Athenian Empire. 

Bury, 328-330, 336-342. Holm, II, 101-102, 122-127, 211-222. 
Abbott, Greece, 344-346. 
Sources. Thucydides, I, 89, 97-100. Plutarch, Aristides. 



CHAPTER X 

THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PERICLES 

i. The Completion of the Athenian Democracy. Pericles. — 

The democratic principle of the people's sovereignty was still 
further developed at Athens under the guidance of Pericles, for 
thirty years the most prominent figure in Greece. His father 
was Xanthippus, the rival of Themistocles and Aristides; his 
mother, Agariste, was niece of Cleisthenes. He was trained as a 
soldier, but carefully educated by the best teachers of the day. 
His political ideas, however, were his own, as was the lucid and 
persuasive eloquence by which he achieved his ends. In per- 
sonal traits he was a striking contrast to Cimon, the loose and 
genial boon companion. He seldom walked abroad; he was 
strict in the economy of his household; he avoided convivial 
parties, and jealously maintained the dignity of his reserve. 

(i) Reform of the Council of the Areopagus. — The most con- 
servative institution in Athens was the Council of the Areopagus, 
for it was filled up from the archons, who were taken from the two 
richest classes in the state. By a measure of Ephialtes the cen- 
sorial powers which enabled it to inquire into the lives of private 
citizens had been abolished. Nothing was left to the venerable 
body but its jurisdiction in homicidal cases. All impeachments 
for crimes which threatened the public weal were henceforward 
brought before the Council or the Assembly, and the people tried 
in their own courts defaulting officials. 

(2) Pay for Public Service. — About the same time another step 
was taken on the path of democracy by making the archonship 
a paid office and open to all classes. The two engines of the 

172 



COMPLETION OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY 



173 



democratic development were lot and pay. The archons and 
other lesser officers, and the members of the Council, were taken 
by lot from a select number of candidates; but these candidates 
were chosen by de- 
liberate election. 
This preliminary 
election was done 
away with; and the 
Council of Five Hun- 
dred, as well as the 
archons, were ap- 
pointed by lot from 
all the eligible citi- 
zens. By this means 
every citizen had an 
equal chance of hold- 
ing political office 
and taking a part in 
the conduct of pub- 
lic affairs. 

It is clear that this 
system could not 
work unless the 
offices were paid ; for 
the poor citizens 
would have been 
unable to give up 
their time to the 
service of the state. 
Accordingly, pay was 
introduced not only 
for the archonship, 

but for the members of the Council. The payment of state offices 
was the leading feature of the democratic reforms of Pericles; 




Pericles; Copy of the Portrait by Cresilas 



174 ATHENIAN EMPIRE UNDER GUIDANCE OF PERICLES 

and at the time of the attack on the Areopagus, Pericles carried 
c. 462 b.c. a measure that the judges should receive a remuneration of 
either one or two obols a day. The amount of judicial business 
was growing so enormously that it would have been impossible 
to find a sufficient number of judges ready to attend day after 
day in the courts without any compensation. 

It was now to the interest of every Athenian that there should 
be as few citizens as possible to participate in the new privileges 
and profits of citizenship. Accordingly, about ten years later, 
the rolls of the citizens were stringently revised; and a law was 
passed that the name of no child should be admitted whose father 
and mother were not Athenian citizens legitimately wedded. 
This law would have excluded Themistocles and Cleisthenes, the 
lawgiver, whose mothers were foreigners. 

(3) Liturgies. — A feature of the Athenian democracy, not to 
be lost sight of, is that public burdens were laid upon the rich 
citizens which did not fall upon the poor, and which might fall 
to a man's lot only once or twice in his life. We have already 
seen how trierarchs were taken from the richer classes to equip 
and man triremes, in which they were themselves obliged to sail, 
and for which they were entirely responsible. Again, when the 
city sent solemn deputations on some religious errand, a wealthy 
citizen was chosen to eke out at his cost the money supplied for 
the purpose by the public treasury, and to conduct the deputation. 
But none of the liturgies, as these public burdens were called, was 
more important or more characteristic of Athenian life than that 
of providing the choruses for the festivals of Dionysus. Every 
year each tribe named one of its wealthy tribesmen to be a choregos, 
and his duties were to furnish and array a chorus and provide 
a skilled trainer to teach it the dances and songs of the drama 
which it was to perform. He whose chorus was victorious in 
the tragic or the comic competition was crowned, and received a 
bronze tripod. The state's endowment of religion turned out to 
be an endowment of brilliant genius ; and the rich men who were 



WAR OF ATHENS WITH THE PELOPONNESIANS 1 75 

called upon to spend their time and money in furnishing the 
dancers did service to the great masters of tragedy and comedy, 
and thereby served the whole world. 

2. War of Athens with the Peloponnesians. — The banish- 
ment of Cimon was the signal for a complete change in the foreign 
policy of Athens. She abandoned the alliance with the Lace- 
daemonians and formed a new alliance with their enemies, Argos 
and Thessaly. Her naval empire and rapidly growing trade 
brought her into deadly rivalry with Sparta's allies — the two 
great trading cities, Corinth and ^gina. And when an Athenian 
general took Naupactus from the Ozolian Locrians and thus 
secured a naval station on the Corinthian Gulf, whence Athens 
could intercept at any time Corinthian fleets sailing for the west, 
war was certain, and the occasion soon came. 

The Megarians, on account of a frontier dispute with Corinth, 
deserted the Peloponnesian league and placed themselves under 459 B -c 
Athenian protection. Nothing could be more welcome to Athens 
than the adhesion of Megara. Holding Megara, she had a strong 
frontier against the Peloponnesus, commanding the Isthmus from 
Pagae on the Corinthian, to Nisaea on the Saronic, Gulf. Without 
any delays she set about the building of a double line of wall from 
the hill of Megara down to the haven of Nisaea, which faces Salamis, 
and she garrisoned these " Long Walls " with her own troops. 
Thus the eastern coast-road was under her control, and Attica 
had a strong bulwark against invasion by land. 

War soon broke out, but at first Sparta took no active part. 
But when the Athenians, becoming involved with the ^gina, 
defeated its fleet and blocked the city, the Spartans were drawn 458 b.c 
into the conflict. They sent a force of hoplites to help the /Egine- 
tans; while the Corinthians advanced into theMegarid, expecting 
that the Athenians would find it impossible to protect Megara and 
blockade ^gina at the same time. But the citizens who were 
below and above the regular military age were formed into an ex- 
traordinary army and marched to the Megarid under the strategos 



176 ATHENIAN EMPIRE UNDER GUIDANCE OF PERICLES 

Myronides. A battle was fought; both sides claimed the victory; 
but, when the Corinthians withdrew, the Athenians raised a trophy. 
Urged by the taunts of their fellow-citizens, the Corinthian soldiers 
returned in twelve days and began to set up a counter-trophy, but 
as they were at work the Athenians rushed forth from Megara 
and inflicted a severe defeat. 

The siege of ^Egina was continued, and, within two years after 
the battle, the /Eginetans capitulated, and agreed to surrender 
theif fleet and pay tribute to Athens. Few successes can have 
457 b.c. been more welcome or profitable to the Athenians than this. 

Their rival in commerce, the rich Dorian island which offended 
their eyes and attracted their desires when they looked forth 
from their hill across the waters of their bay, was at length 
powerless in their hands. 

3. War in Egypt. — The victory over iEgina was won with 
only a portion of the Athenian fleet. For, in the very hour when 
she was about to be brought face to face with the armed opposition 
of rival Greek powers, she had embarked in an expedition to 
Egypt — one of the most daring ventures she ever undertook. 

A fleet of two hundred Athenian and confederate galleys was 
operating against Persia in Cyprian seas, when it was invited 
to cross over to Egypt by Inaros, a Libyan potentate, who had 
stirred up the lands of the lower Nile to revolt against their Persian 
masters. The invitation was most alluring. It meant that, if 
Athens delivered Egypt from Persian rule, she would secure the 
chief control of the foreign trade with the Nile valley and be able 
to establish a naval station on the coast. The generals of the 
^gean fleet accepted the call of the Libyan prince. 
459 b.c. The Athenians entered the Nile to find Inaros triumphant, 

having gained a great victory in the Delta over a Persian army 
which had been sent to quell him. Sailing up, they won possession 
of the city of Memphis, except the citadel, the "White Castle," 
in which the Persian garrison held out. But it was a fatal co- 
incidence that the power of Athens should have been divided 




WAR IN BCEOTIA 1 77 

at this moment. With her full forces she might have inflicted 
a crushing blow on the Peloponnesians ; with her full forces she 
might have prospered in Egypt; but the Persians, supported by 
a Phoenician fleet, defeated the Greeks, and blockaded them on an 
island. The Athenians were thus forced to burn their ships, 454 b.c. 
abandon the enterprise, and to retreat. 

4. War in Bceotia. — In the meantime, events in another part 
of Greece had led the Lacedaemonians themselves to take part in 
the war. The errand which called them out of 
the Peloponnesus was an errand of piety, to suc- 
cor their mother-people, the Dorians of the 
north, one of whose three little towns had been 
taken by the Phocians. To force the aggres- 
sors to restore the place was an easy task for 

an army which consisted of fifteen hundred CoiN OF Thebes - 

J . Fifth Century 

Lacedaemonian hoplites and ten thousand (Reverse). He- 

troops of the allies. The real work of the racles strang- 

expedition lay in Bceotia. It was clearly the " NG Snakes 
\ J ■ J [Legend: ©e- 

policy of Sparta to raise up here a powerful bai(02)] 

state to hold Athens in check. Accordingly, 
Sparta now set up the power of Thebes again, and forced the 
Boeotian cities to join her league. When the army had done 
its work in Boeotia its return to the Peloponnesus was beset by 
difficulties. The Athenians guarded the passes in the Megarid, 
their ships beset the Corinthian Gulf. In this embarrassment 
the Spartans seem to have resolved to march straight upon 
Athens, where the people were now engaged in the building of 
Long Walls from the city to the harbor. The Peloponnesian 
army advanced to Tanagra, near the Attic frontier; but be- 
fore they crossed the borders, the Athenians went forth to 
meet them, fourteen thousand strong, including one thousand 
Argives and some Thessalian cavalry. The banished statesman 
Cimon now came to the Athenian camp, pitched on Boeotian soil, 
and, being refused leave to defend his country, exhorted his parti- 

N 



178 ATHENIAN EMPIRE UNDER GUIDANCE OF PERICLES 

sans to fight valiantly. This act of Cimon prepared the way for 
his recall; in the battle which followed, his friends fought so 
stubbornly that none of them survived. There was great slaughter 
on both sides; but the Lacedaemonians gained the victory. But 
the battle saved Athens, and the victory only enabled the victors 
to return by the Isthmus. 




BORMAY .-ENGRAVING. CO., N.Y.; 



Campaigns in Bceotia 

Athens now desired to make a truce with Sparta in order to gain 
time. No man was more fitted to compass this than the exile 
Cimon. The people, at the instance of Pericles, passed a decree 
recalling him; but when Cimon had negotiated the truce, he 
withdrew from Athens. 

Two months after the battle, the Athenians made an expedi- 
tion into Bceotia under the command of Myronides. A decisive 
battle was fought at (Enophyta, and the Athenians became masters 
of the whole Boeotian land. The Boeotian cities were not enrolled 
in the maritime Confederacy of Delos, but were obliged to furnish 



ATHENIAN EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT 1 79 

contingents to the Athenian armies. At the same time the Pho- 
cians entered into the alliance of Athens, and the Opuntian Locrians 
were constrained to acknowledge her supremacy. Such were 
the consequences of (Enophyta and Tanagra. Athens could 
now quietly complete the building of her Long Walls. 

5. The Athenian Empire at its Height. — Though the Athenians 
lost ships and treasure in these daring enterprises, their empire 
was now at the height of its power. They were even able to make 
the disaster in Egypt a pretext for removing the funds of the league 
to the Athenian Acropolis, lest the Persian fleet should capture 
Delos. 

The empire of Athens now included a continental as well as 
a maritime dominion. The two countries which marched with 
her frontiers, Bceotia and Megara, had become her subjects. 
Beyond Bceotia, her dominion extended over Phocis and Locris 
to the pass of Thermopylae. In Argos her influence was pre- 
dominant; iEgina had been added to her ^Egean empire, the 
ships of JEgina, to her navy. The Saronic bay had almost been 
converted into an Attic lake. 

The great commercial city of the Isthmus was the chief and 
most dangerous enemy of Athens, and the next object of the policy 
of Pericles was to convert the Corinthian Gulf into an Attic lake, 
also, and so hem in Corinth on both her seas. The possession of 
the Megarid and Bceotia, and especially the station at Naupactus, 
gave Athens control of the northern shores of the gulf from within 
the gate up to the Isthmus. But the southern seaboard was still 
entirely Peloponnesian ; and outside the gate, on the Acarnanian 
coast, there were posts which ought to be secured. The general 455 b.c. 
Tolmides made a beginning by capturing the Corinthian colony 
Chalcis, opposite Patrae. Then Pericles himself conducted an 
expedition to continue the work of Tolmides. Though no mili- 453 B - c - 
tary success was gained, the expedition seems to have led to the 
adhesion of the Achaean cities to the Athenian alliance. It is 
certain, at least, that shortly afterward Achaea was an Athenian 



180 ATHENIAN EMPIRE UNDER GUIDANCE OF PERICLES 



450 B.C. 



448 B.C. 



dependency; and for a few years Athenian vessels could sail 
with a sense of dominion in the Corinthian, as well as in the Saronic, 
bay. 

6. Conclusion of Peace with Persia. — The warfare of recent 
years had been an enormous strain on the resources of Athens. 
She wanted a relief from the strain, but after the expedition of 
Pericles three or four years elapsed before peace was concluded. 
Lacedasmon and Argos first concluded a treaty of peace for thirty 
years; and then Cimon, who had returned to Athens, negotiated 
a truce, which was fixed for five years, between the Athenians and 
the Peloponnesians. 

Athens and her allies were now free to resume their warfare 
against Persia, and Cimon was naturally intrusted with the com- 
mand. He sailed to Cyprus, where the 
Phoenician fleet, after putting down rebel- 
lion in Egypt, was busy reestablishing the 
authority of Artaxerxes. Siege was laid to 
Cition, and during the blockade Cimon 
died. But when the siege had to be 
raised for lack of food, the Greek fleet 
encountered the Phoenician and Cilician 
ships off the Cyprian Salamis, and gained 
a double victory by land and sea. 

Yet the victory did not encourage Athens 
to continue the struggle. War with Persia 
and war with her enemies in Greece could not be carried on 
effectually together; and she could only secure peace with the 
Greeks by surrendering her conquests. Pericles was a strong 
imperialist, but his aim was to spread the Athenian empire and 
influence within the borders of Greece, and the death of Cimon 
had removed the chief advocate of war with Persia. Accord- 
ingly, peace was made. The Great King undertook not to send 
ships of war into the ^gean ; Athens gave a pledge securing the 
coasts of the Persian empire from attack. 




Coin of Cition, Fifth 
Century (Reverse). 
Seated Lion ; Ram's 
Head [Phoenician 
Legend: I baalmelek] 



ATHENIAN REVERSES. THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE l8l 

The first act in the strife of Greece and Persia thus closed. 
All the cities of Hellas which had come under barbarian sway, 
except in Cyprus, had been reunited to the world of free Hellenic 
states. 

7. Athenian Reverses. The Thirty Years' Peace. — The peace 
with Persia, however, was not followed by further Athenian 
expansion; on the contrary, some of the most recent acquisitions 
began to fall away. Orchomenus and Chaeronea and some other 
towns in western Bceotia were seized by exiled oligarchs; and it 
was necessary for Athens to intervene promptly. The general 
Tolmides went forth with a wholly inadequate number of troops. 
He took and garrisoned Chaeronea, but did not attempt Orcho- 
menus. On his way home he was set upon by the exiles from 
Orchomenus and some others, in the neighborhood of Coronea, and 
defeated. He was himself slain; many of the hoplites were taken 447 b.c. 
prisoners; and the Athenians, in order to obtain their release, 
resigned Bceotia. Thus the battle of Coronea undid the work 
of (Enophyta. The loss of Bceotia was followed by the loss of 
Phocis and Locris. 

Still more serious results ensued. Eubcea and Megara revolted 
at the same moment; here, too, oligarchical parties were at work. 
Pericles, who was a general, immediately went to Euboea with 
the regiments of seven of the tribes, while those of the remaining 
three marched into the Megarid. But he had no sooner reached 
the island than he was overtaken by the news that the garrison 
in the city of Megara had been massacred and that a Peloponnesian 
army was threatening Attica. He promptly returned, and with 
difficulty managed to unite his forces with the troops in theMegarid. 
The return of Pericles disconcerted King Pleistoanax, who com- 
manded the Lacedaemonians, and he withdrew. Pericles was 
thus set free to carry out the reduction of Eubcea. Histiaea, the 
city in the north of the island, was most hardly dealt with, prob- 
ably because her resistance was most obstinate; the people were 
driven out, their territory annexed to Athens. But peace was 



1 82 ATHENIAN EMPIRE UNDER GUIDANCE OF PERICLES 

felt to be so indispensable that the Athenians resigned themselves 
to purchasing a durable treaty by considerable concessions. They 
had lostMegara, but they still held the two ports, Nisaea and Pagae. 
These, as well as Achsea, they agreed to surrender, and on this 
basis a peace was concluded for thirty years between the Athe- 
nians and the Peloponnesians. All the allies of both sides were 
enumerated in the treaty, and it was stipulated that neither Athens 
nor Lacedsemon was to admit into her alliance an ally of the other, 
while neutral states might join whichever alliance they chose. 

It was a humiliating peace for Athens, and perhaps would not 
have been concluded but for the alarm which had been caused 
by the inroad of the Peloponnesians into Attic territory. While 
the loss of Boeotia and the evacuation of Achsea might be lightly 
endured, the loss of the Megarid was a serious blow. For, while 
Athens held the long walls from Nisaea and the passes of Geranea, 
she had complete immunity from Peloponnesian invasions of her 
soil. Henceforth Attica was always exposed to such aggressions. 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 24, 25. Sections 24 a, b, 26) 

1. Changes in Government. 

An excellent brief account is in West, Ancient History, 165-174. Bury, 
346-352. Holm, II, xvi. 
Sources. Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, 28, and following. 

2. Foreign Policy ; War with Egypt, Cyprus, and Persia. 
Bury, 354-355. 35 8 ~36i. Holm, II, 145-146, I75"i79- 

Sources. Thucydides, I, 104, 109, no (Egypt); 112 (Cyprus). 

3. The Athenian Empire. 

Bury, 352-354, 355-357, 358, 363-367. Abbott, Greece, II, 328-334, 

340-344. 
(Longer and more detailed references are to be found in the standard 
histories, but either the text, or Bury's History of Greece, gives all 
that is necessary.) 
Sources. Thucydides, I, 105, 109, 113-118. Plutarch, Life of Pericles. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE IMPERIALISM OF PERICLES 

i. The Aims of Pericles. — The cities of the Athenian alliance 
might have claimed, when the Persian War was ended, that they 
should resume their original and rightful freedom. The fair 
answer to this claim would have been, that peace would endure 
only so long as a power was maintained strong enough to stand 
up against the might of Persia. But in any case Athens was in 
the full career of an ambitious " imperialist " state. The tributes 
which she imposed on her subjects were probably not oppressive, 
and were constantly revised. But there was much that was 
galling in her empire, to communities in which the love of freedom 
was strongly developed. 

Pericles had been the guide of the Athenian people in their 
imperial policy. But that policy had not been unchallenged. 
There was a strong oligarchical party at Athens which not only 
disliked the democracy of their city, but arraigned her empire; 
and there was one man at least who may claim the credit of having 
honestly espoused the cause of the allied cities against the un- 
scrupulous selfishness of his own city. This was Thucydides, 
the son of Melesias. He maintained that the tribute should be 
reserved exclusively for the purpose for which it was levied, the 
defense of Greece against Persia, and that Athens had no right 
to spend it on other things. It was an injustice that the allies 
should have to defray any part of the costs of an Athenian cam- 
paign in Bceotia or of a new temple in Athens. This was a just 
view, but justice is never entirely compatible with the growth 

183 ' 



1 84 IMPERIALISM OF PERICLES 

of a country to political greatness, and Pericles was resolved to 
make his country great at all hazards. 

Among the measures which Pericles initiated to strengthen 
the empire of his city, none was more important in its results 
than the system of settling Athenian citizens abroad. The colonies 
which were thus sent to different parts of the empire served as 
garrisons in the lands of subject allies, and they also helped to 
provide for part of the superfluous population of Athens. The 
first of these Periclean cleruchies was established in the Thracian 
Chersonese, under the personal supervision of Pericles himself. 
Lands were bought from the allied cities of the peninsula, and a 
thousand Athenian citizens, chiefly of the poor and unemployed, 
were allotted farms and assigned to the several cities. The pay- 
ment for the land was made in the shape of a reduction of the 
tribute. 

The policy was naturally popular at Athens, since it provided 
for thousands of unemployed who cumbered the streets. But 
it was a policy which was highly unpopular among the allies, in 
whose territories the settlements were made. 

The imperialism of Pericles was, indeed, of a lofty kind. His 
aim was to make Athens the queen of Hellas; to spread her sway 
on the mainland as well as beyond the seas; and to make her 
political influence felt in those states which it would have been un- 
wise and perhaps impossible to draw within the borders of her 
empire. Shortly before the loss of Bceotia through the defeat 
of Coronea, Athens addressed to Greece an open declaration of 
her Parihellenic ambition. She invited the Greek states to send 
representatives to an Hellenic congress at Athens, for the purpose 
of discussing certain matters of common interest. To restore 
the temples which had been burned by the Persians, to pay the 
votive offerings which were due to the gods for the great deliver- 
ance, and to take common measures for clearing the seas of piracy 
— this was the programme which Athens proposed to the consider- 
ation of Greece. If the congress had taken place, it would have 



RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLES 



185 



inaugurated an amphictiony of all Hellas, and Athens would 
have been the center of this vast religious union. It was a sublime 
project, but it could not be. It was not to be expected that Sparta 
would fall in with a project which, however noble and pious it 
sounded, might tempt or help Athens to strike out new and perilous 
paths of ambition and aggrandizement. The Athenian envoys 
were rebuffed in the Peloponnesus, and the plan fell through. 

2. The Restoration of the Temples. — It remained then for 450-430 b.c. 
Athens to carry out that part of the programme which concerned 



jap 

,\v>Spriri»'uf.0.1epsydSff ■----■" -"-' 



^SpMgufiCJepsjg 







//Hi III /'//''''llllll liiilV^^,. 

' J iii \\ ft////////iiini»ipmrfffffn », 



_- Approximate 
m|Site of Odeum 
J-^^ \of Pericles 



SCALE OF YARDS 
50 



Old Temple of Dionysus 
(Probably Pisistratean)g3Pj] 



Later Temple of Dionysus 
(Post-Periclean) 



WW 



& 



BORMAY, N Y 



The Athenian Acropolis 



herself. It devolved upon the city, as a religious duty, to make 
good the injuries which the barbarian had inflicted upon the habi- 
tations of her gods, and fully to pay her debt of gratitude to heaven 
for the defeat of the Mede. In this, above all, was the greatness 
of Pericles displayed, that he discerned the importance of perform- 
ing this duty on a grand scale. He recognized that the city by 
ennobling the houses of her gods would ennoble herself; and that 



1 86 IMPERIALISM OF PERICLES 

she could express her own might and her ideals in no worthier 
way than by the erection of beautiful temples. 

(i) The Parthenon. — The rebuilding of the sanctuary of the 
goddess Athena had already been commenced under Themistocles, 
but was now resumed on entirely different plans drawn by the 
architect Ictinus. This temple, known as the Hecatompedos, con- 
tained but two rooms, between which there was no communica- 
tion, and was built of native Attic marble from the quarries of 
Pentelicus. In the eastern room was a statue of the goddess; a 
colossal figure, arrayed in a golden robe, a helmet on her head, 
her right hand holding a golden victory, and her left resting on her 
shield, while the snake Erechthonius was coiled at her feet. This 
statue, designed by Pheidias, was of wood covered with gold and 
ivory — ivory for the exposed flesh and gold for the raiment — 
and hence called chryselephantine. 

Pheidias also designed and executed the sculpture which made 
the great temple complete. The two pediments, or triangular 
gables over the porches, he adorned with scenes from the life of 
the goddess ; in the eastern one was depicted the story of the birth 
of Athena, who sprang fully armed from the head of Zeus; while 
in the western pediment the contest and triumph of Athena over 
Poseidon was portrayed. In the metopes was shown the battles 
between the Centaurs and the Giants. But with these Pheidias 
probably had little to do. 

The subject of the wonderful frieze which encircled the temple 
from end to end was the most solemn of all the ceremonies which 
the Athenians performed in honor of their queen. At the great 
Panathenaic festival, every fourth year, .they went up in long 
procession to present her with a new robe. The advance of this 
procession, starting from the western side, and moving simultane- 
ously along the northern and southern sides, to meet at the eastern 
entrance, was vividly shown on the frieze of the Parthenon. 

(2) The Athena Promachos. — Near the west brow of the 
Acropolis, looking south west ward, a colossal bronze statue of 



RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLES 



187 



Athena was constructed. It was about fifty feet high, and the 
flashes of the sun on the helmet and lance of the goddess were 
seen by sailors far out at sea. 

(3) The Temple of Athena Nike. — Still another temple was 
built for the goddess. On the extreme southwestern summit of 
the Acropolis, a small but wonderfully perfect temple was erected 




Athena and Hephaestus, on the Frieze of the Parthenon (British 

Museum) 

to Athena as goddess of victory. In the frieze the motive of the 
temple was clearly shown, for it depicted the Greeks and Persians 
in conflict — the battle of Plataea. 

(4) The Propylea. — The approach to the Parthenon, as de- 
vised by the architect Mnesicles, occupied the whole west side of 
the hill. In the center, on the brow of the hill and facing west- 



1 88 IMPERIALISM OF PERICLES 

ward, was to be the entrance with five gates, and on either side 
two vast columned halls — reaching to the north and south 
brinks of the hill — in which the Athenians could walk sheltered 
from sun and rain. Thrown out on the projecting cliffs in front 
of these halls were to be two spacious wings, flanking the ascent 
to the central gate. This design was never carried out in full. 
Though the building was begun and portions of it completed, the 
jealousy of the priests and the danger of approaching war pre- 
vented its completion. 

(5) The Erechtheum. — The oldest shrine on the citadel was the 
Erechtheum, which as it appears to-day was probably the work 
of an age later than that of Pericles, though showing the same 
spirit. The building is of irregular shape and constructed after 
the Ionic style. Toward the Parthenon extends a wonderful porch, 
the roof of which is supported by six female figures instead of 
columns. 

(6) The Olympian Zeus. — In the field of art Athens partly 
fulfilled the ambition of Pericles, who, when he could not make 
her the queen, desired that she should be the instructress, of 
Hellas. When Pheidias had completed the great statue of Athena 
in gold and ivory, and had seen it set up in the new temple, he 
went forth, invited by the men of Elis, to make the image for the 
temple of Zeus at Olympia. For five years in his workshop in the 
Altis the Athenian sculptor wrought at the " great chryselephan- 
tine god," and the colossal image which came from his hands was 
probably the highest creation ever achieved by the plastic art of 
Greece. The Panhellenic god, seated on a lofty throne, and clad 
in a golden robe, held a Victory in his right hand, a scepter in his 
left. He was bearded, and his hair was wreathed with a branch 
of olive. Many have borne witness to the impression which the 
serene aspect of this manifest divinity always produced upon the 
heart of the beholder. " Let a man sick and weary in his soul, 
who has passed through many distresses and sorrows, whose pillow 
is un visited by kindly sleep, stand in front of this image; he will, 



LITERATURE 1 89 

I deem, forget all the terrors and troubles of human life." An 
Athenian had wrought, for one of the two great centers of Hellenic 
religion, the most sublime expression of the Greek ideal of god- 
head. 

3. Literature. — (1) The Drama. — Greek tragedy originated 
from the choruses and songs that were sung in honor of Dionysus. 
The first Athenian to create a genuine drama was Phrynichus, 
who took contemporary events for his themes and who was fined, 
as has been seen, for his Capture of Miletus, which reminded 
the Athenians of their own misfortunes. 

But tragedy was made a genuine work of art by ^Eschylus, who 
lived during the era of the Persian Wars. He improved the art 
of Phrynichus in many ways; he introduced more actors on the 
stage, provided costumes, and laid greater stress on the dialogue. 
For his subjects he took, not contemporary events, but myths and 
legends, and by means of these taught great moral lessons. Some 
of his most famous tragedies are The Seven against Thebes, 
Agamemnon, and Prometheus. 

Sophocles, however, was the great tragedian of the Periclean 
age. He is said to have composed more than a hundred dramas, 
of which seven tragedies have been preserved. Among the most 
famous of these are Antigone and (Edipus Tyrannies. In scenic 
details he did not surpass ^schylus, but he displayed far more 
dramatic skill, and presented a clearer picture to the spectators. 
Instead of taking for subjects myths and legends, he chose some 
great spiritual conflict; as in Antigone, between the stubbornness 
of the king and the self-sacrifice of the princess. 

(2) Philosophy. — During the sixth century the Ionian cities 
were the homes of a school of philosophers who sought to solve 
the problems of the universe. Thales, the astronomer, who was 
the first to predict an eclipse of the sun, believed he could find 
the origin of all things in water. His idea, of course, was wrong; 
but in seeking for one basal element he had given to men the idea 
of unity. Pythagoras of Samos, who later went to Croton, was 



190 IMPERIALISM OF PERICLES 

a mathematician ; he first recognized the circular form of the 
earth and knew that the motion of the earth around the sun was 
only apparent. Heraclitus of Ephesus in many respects fore- 
shadowed the modern doctrine of evolution. He taught that 
all things were in a state of growth and decay. 

But at Athens these doctrines made little headway in this era, 
and the people still devoutly believed in the old gods and in the 
old religion. 

(3) History. — In prose writing the era is famous for the 
production of the history of Herodotus. Although a native of 
Halicarnassus, originally a Dorian city, Herodotus was deeply 
influenced by the Ionic culture. So many of his years were spent 
in travel that he cannot be claimed by any one city; yet the im- 
portance of his work to Athens, his high estimation of Pericles, 
and the reward which the city voted him, connect him closely 
with Athena. 

His writings cover the era of the Persian Wars, yet in connection 
with each Persian conquest the conquered country is described, 
so that an almost universal history of the period is produced. He 
interweaves description and narrative, combining sober statement 
of fact with legend and story so that the book becomes one of 
absorbing interest. 

4. Higher Education. The Sophists. — Since the days of Nestor 
and Odysseus, the art of persuasive speech was held in honor by 
the Greeks. With the rise of the democratic commonwealths, it 
became more important. If a man was dragged into a law-court 
by his enemies, and knew not how to speak, he was like an un- 
armed civilian attacked by soldiers in panoply. The power of 
clearly expressing ideas in such a way as to persuade an audience 
was an art to be learned and taught. The demand was met by 
teachers who traveled about and gave general instruction in the 
art of speaking and in the art of reasoning, and, out of their en- 
cyclopaedic knowledge, lectured on all possible subjects. They 
received fees for their courses, and were called " sophists," of which 



OPPOSITION TO PERICLES 191 

name perhaps our best equivalent is "professors." The name 
acquired a slightly unfavorable color — partly owing to the dis- 
trust felt by the masses toward men who know too much. But 
this dislike did not imply the idea that the professors were im- 
postors, who deliberately sought to hoodwink the public by argu- 
ments in which they did not believe themselves. 

The sophists did not confine themselves to teaching. They 
wrote much; they discussed occasional topics, criticised political 
affairs, diffused ideas. But the greatest of the professors were 
much more than either teachers or journalists. They not only 
diffused but set afloat ideas; they enriched the world with con- 
tributions to knowledge. They were all rationalists, spreaders 
of enlightenment; but they were very various in their views and 
doctrines. Gorgias of Leontini, Protagoras of Abdera, Prodicus 
of Ceos, Hippias of Elis, Socrates of Athens, each had his own 
strongly marked individuality. 

5. Opposition to Pericles. — The imperialism of Pericles and 
the improvements at Athens required a large outlay of money, 
and thus gave the political opponents of Pericles a welcome handle 
against him. Thucydides accused Pericles not merely of squan- 
dering the resources of the state which ought to be kept as a 
reserve for war, but of misappropriating the money of the Confed- 
eracy for purely Athenian purposes. It is certainly true that some 
money was taken from the treasury of the Hellenotamiae for the 
new buildings, but this was only a very small part of the cost, 
which was mainly defrayed by the treasury of Athena and by the 
public treasury of Athens. But Pericles, with bold sophistry, 
argued that the allies had no reason to complain, so long as Athens 
defended them efficiently. Three years after the Thirty Years' 
Peace, Thucydides asked the people to decide between them. 

But the people voted for the ostracism of Thucydides, and hence- 442 b.c. 
forward Pericles had no opponent of influence to thwart his policy 
or cross his way. 

6. The Piraeus. Athenian Commercial Policy. — The Piraeus 



192 



IMPERIALISM OF PERICLES 



had grown to be one of the great ports of Greece, and its defenses 
were improved by the construction of a new long wall, running 
parallel and close to the northern wall. The southern or Phaleron 
wall was now allowed to fall into disrepair. Dry docks, new store- 
houses, and various buildings for the convenience of shipping were 
constructed round the three harbors. Athens and her harbor in- 
creased in population ; the total of the inhabitants of Attica seems 
to have been at this time about two hundred and fifty thousand 
(twice as large as the Corinthian state). But nearly half of this 
number were slaves. 



.v^rr,HEXs-> v, • -,. 




^?# i ' : -: : : ; ;V ; : : ':'-'- : -::';;;'-'---v': ; -'V: : .^ 



1. Acropolis 

2. Areopagus 

3. Agora 

4. Pnyx 

5. Theatre of Dionysius 

6. Temple of Olympian Zeus 



Athens and the Piraeus 



Attic fame and commerce were spreading in the west. Her 
standard of coinage was adopted for the currency of Greek cities 
in Sicily; Rome sent envoys to her to obtain a copy of Solon's 
code. Yet the more vital interests of Athens were in the east, 
connected especially with imports of grain from the Euxine. The 
price of corn fluctuated with every disturbance in these regions, 
and it was essential to secure this trade route. Her possession of 



REVOLT OF SAMOS 1 93 

the Chersonese, which Pericles had strengthened, controlled the 
Hellespont; Byzantium and Chalcedon, members of her league, 
held the Bosphorus. And Pericles himself sailed with an impos- 
ing squadron into the Pontus to impress the barbarians of those 
regions with the power of Athens. 

The Thracian tribes became united under a powerful king, and c. 450 b. 
Athens needed to keep a watchful eye on this new power. An 
important port was the Athenian fortress of Eion, at the mouth of 
the Strymon, near a bridge over which ran all the trade between 
Thrace and Macedonia, and to which came down the produce of 
the gold mines in the "hinterland." A new city, founded here 
at the bridge on the Strymon, was called Amphipolis, and became 436 b.c. 
quickly the most important place on the coast. 

7. The Revolt of Samos. — After the ostracism of Thucydides, 
Pericles for nearly fifteen years ruled as absolutely as a tyrant. 
But his position was entirely based on his moral influence over the 
sovereign people. He had the power of persuading them to do 
whatever he thought good, and every year for fifteen years after 
his rival's banishment he was elected one of the generals. Al- 
though all the ten generals nominally possessed equal powers, yet 
the man who possessed the supreme political influence was prac- 
tically chief of the ten, and had the conduct of foreign affairs in 
his hands. Pericles was not irresponsible; for at the end of any 
official year the people could decline to reelect him, and call him 
to account for his actions. When he had once gained the undis- 
puted mastery, the only forces which he used to maintain it were 
wisdom and eloquence. The desire of autocratic authority was 
doubtless part of his nature ; but his spirit was fine enough to feel 
that it was a greater thing to be leader of freemen whom he must 
convince by speech, than despot of subjects who must obey his 
nod. 

Five years after the Thirty Years' Peace he was called upon to dis- 
play his generalship. Athens was involved in a war with one of 
the strongest members of her Confederacy, the island of Samos. 




194 IMPERIALISM OF PERICLES 

The occasion of this war was a dispute which Samos had with 

another member, Miletus, about the possession of Priene. Athens 

decided in favor of Miletus, and Pericles sailed 

with forty-four triremes to Samos, where he 

overthrew the aristocracy and established a 

democratic constitution, leaving a garrison to 

protect it. But the nobles who had fled to the 

Early Coin of mainland returned one night and captured the 

Samos (Ob- garrison. Athens received another blow at the 

verse). Part same ^ me by fa e revolt of Byzantium. Pericles 
of a Bull j j 

sailed speedily back to Samos and invested it 

with a large fleet. At the end of nine months the city surren- 
dered. The Samians undertook to pull down their walls, and to 
surrender their ships, and pay a war indemnity, which amounted 
to fifteen hundred talents or thereabouts. Byzantium also came 
back to the Confederacy. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 85-86) 

1. Restoration of the Temples: Sculpture. 

Botsford, 178-184. West, 175-182. Holm, II, 260-274. Tarbell, 
F. B., History of Greek Art, 78-197 and 184-202, gives a more 
detailed account, with excellent illustrations, of the subjects 
treated in the text. 

2. Literature. 

West, 182-188. Holm, II, 160-163, 2 75~ 2 9°- J e bb, R. C, Primer of 
Greek Literature, 69-109. 
Sources. Extracts from the poets may be found in Jennings and John- 
ston, Half -hours with Greek and Latin Authors. 

3. Education. 

West, 188-19 1. See also Pericles, Funeral Oration. Thucydides, 
II, 34-46. 



CHAPTER XII 



THE WAR OF ATHENS WITH THE PELOPONNESIANS 



(431-421 B.C.) 




435 B.C. 



i . The Prelude of the War. — The incidents which led up to the 
" Peloponnesian War" are connected with two Corinthian colonies, 
Corcyra and Potidaea. 

(1) Party struggles had taken place in Epidamnus, a colony 
of Corcyra. The popular party asked help from their mother- 
city; but Corcyra refused, and Epidamnus turned 
to Corinth, which sent a squadron of seventy-five 
ships with two thousand hoplites against the Cor- 
cyraeans. The powerful navy of Corcyra, however, 
won a complete victory over the Corinthians outside 
the Ambracian Gulf. 

Corinth now began to prepare for a greater effort 
against her powerful and detested colony. The re- 
port of the preparations she was making so fright- 
ened the Corcyraeans that they offered to make an 
alliance with Athens. Envoys from both Corinth 
and Corcyra appeared at Athens, and, after two debates, the 
assembly voted to make a defensive alliance with Corcyra. 

Ten ships were sent to Corcyra with orders not to fight unless 
Corcyra or some of the places belonging to it were attacked. A 433 B - c - 
great and tumultuous naval engagement ensued near the islet of 
Sybota. A Corcyraean fleet of one hundred and ten ships was 
ranged against a Corinthian of one hundred and fifty — the out- 
come of two years of preparation. The right wing of the Corcy- 

i95 



Coin of Cor- 
cyra, Fifth 
C ent u RY 
(Obverse). 
Head of 
Hera [Le- 
gend: kop] 



196 WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

raeans was worsted, and the ten Athenian ships, which had held 
aloof at first, interfered to prevent its total discomfiture. In the 
evening the sudden sight of twenty new Athenian ships on the 
horizon caused the Corinthians to retreat, and the next day they 
declined battle. 

(2) The breach with Corinth forced Athens to look to the security 
of her interests in the Chalcidic peninsula. The city of Potidaea, 
which occupies and guards the Isthmus of Pallene, was a tribu- 
tary ally of Athens, but received its annual magistrates from its 
mother-city, Corinth. Immediately after the battle of Sybota, 
Athens required the Potidaeans to raze the city-walls on the 
south side where they were not needed for protection against 
Macedonia, and to abandon the system of Corinthian magistrates. 
The Potidaeans refused; they were supported by the promise of 
Sparta to invade Attica, in case Potidaea were attacked by 
Athens. But the situation was complicated by the policy of the 
Macedonian king, Perdiccas, who organized a general revolt of 
Chalcidice against Athens; and even persuaded the Chalcidians 
to pull down their cities on the coast and concentrate themselves 
in the strong inland town of Olynthus. Thus the revolt of Poti- 
daea forms part of a general movement in that quarter against 
the Athenian dominion. 

The Athenians advanced against Potidaea and gained an ad- 
432 b.c c vantage over the Corinthian general, Aristeus, who had arrived 

with some Peloponnesian forces. They then invested the city. 
So far the Corinthians had acted alone. Now, seeing the danger 
of Potidaea, they took active steps to incite the Lacedaemonians to 
declare war against Athens. 

Pericles knew that war was coming, and he promptly struck. 

432 b.c. Megara had assisted Corinth at the battle of Sybota ; the Athenians 

passed a measure excluding the Megarians from the markets and 

ports of their empire. The decree spelt economical ruin to Megara, 

and Megara was an important member of the Peloponnesian league. 

2. Sparta decides upon War. — The allies appeared at Sparta 



SPARTA DECIDES UPON WAR 1 97 

and brought formal charges against Athens of having broken the 
Thirty Years' Peace and committed various acts of injustice. But 
it was not the Corcyraean incidents, or the siege of Potidaea, or the 
Megarian decree, that caused the Peloponnesian War, though 
jointly they hastened its outbreak; it was the fear and jealousy 
of the Athenian power. The only question was whether it was the 
right hour to engage in that unavoidable struggle. The Spartan 
king, Archidamus, advised delay. But the ephors were in favor 
of war. It was decided that the Athenians were in the wrong, 
and this decision necessarily led to a declaration of war. 

Thucydides makes the Corinthian envoys, at the assembly in 
Sparta, the spokesmen of a famous comparison. " You have never 
considered, O Lacedaemonians, what manner of men are these 
Athenians with whom you will have to fight, and how utterly 
unlike yourselves. They are revolutionary, while you are con- 
servative. They are bold beyond their strength; whereas it is 
your nature, though strong, to act feebly. They are impetuous, and 
you are dilatory; they are always abroad, and you are always at 
home." 

On the present occasion, however, the Athenians did not give 
an example of promptness in action. It was the object of Sparta 
to gain time ; accordingly, she sent embassies to Athens with trivial 
demands. She required the Athenians to drive out the "curse of 
the goddess," which 'rested on the family of the Alcmaeonidae; 
the point of this lay in the fact that Pericles, on his mother's side, 
belonged to the accursed family. Athens replied by equally trivial 
demands. These amenities were followed by an ultimatum. 
There was a peace party at Athens, but Pericles carried the day. 
"We must be aware," he said, " that the war will come; and the 
more willing we are to accept the situation, the less ready will our 
enemies be to lay hands upon us." 

The peoples of Greece were parted as follows on the sides of the 
two chief antagonists. Sparta commanded the whole Pelopon- 
nesus, except her old enemy Argos, and Achaea; she commanded 



198 WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

the Isthmus, for she had both Corinth andMegara; in northern 
Greece she had Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris; in western Greece, 
Ambracia, Anactorion, and the island of Leucas. In western 
Greece, Athens commanded the Acarnanians, Corcyra, and Zacyn- 
thus, as well as the Messenians of Naupactus ; in northern Greece 
she had Plataea; and these were her only allies beyond her con- 
federacy. Of that confederacy Lesbos and Chios were now the only 
two independent states'. In addition to the navies of Lesbos, Chios, 
and Corcyra, Athens had three hundred ships of her own. 

3. The Theban Attack on Plataea. — The declaration of war 
between the two great states of Greece let loose smaller enmities. 
431 b.c. On a dark, moonless night, in the early spring, a band of three 

hundred Thebans entered Plataea, invited and admitted by a small 
party in the city. Instead of at once attacking, they took up their 
post in the agora and made a proclamation, calling upon the Pla- 
taeans to join the Boeotian league. The Plataeans were surprised, 
and acceded to the Theban demand, but in the course of the 
negotiation discovered how few the enemies were. Breaking 
down the party- walls between their houses, so as not to attract 
notice by moving in the streets, they concerted a plan of action. 
When all was arranged, they attacked the enemy before dawn. 
The Thebans were soon dispersed. A few escaped. But the 
greater number rushed through the door of a large building, mis- 
taking it for one of the town-gates, and were thus captured alive 
by the Plataeans. 

The three hundred were only the vanguard of a large Theban 
force which arrived too late. According to the Theban account, 
the Plataeans definitely promised to restore the prisoners, if the 
other troops evacuated their territory. But the Plataeans, as soon 
as they had conveyed all their property into the city, put their 
prisoners to death, one hundred and eighty in number. A message 
had been immediately sent to Athens. The Athenians seized all 
the Boeotians in Attica, and sent a herald to Plataea bidding them 
not to injure their prisoners; but the herald found the Thebans 




< 

X 

Q 
7. 



f- 



SPARTAN INVASIONS. ATHENIAN RETALIATION 1 99 

dead. The Athenians immediately set Plataea ready for a siege, 
and sent a garrison of eighty Athenians. 

The Theban attack on Platasa was a glaring violation of the 
Thirty Years' Peace, and it hastened the outbreak of the war. 

4. Spartan Invasions. Athenian Retaliation. — The key to 
the war which now began is the fact that it was waged between a 
state which was mainly continental and one which was mainly 
maritime. The land power was obliged to direct its attacks chiefly 
on the continental possessions of the sea power, while the latter 
had to confine itself to attacking the maritime possessions of 
the former. The points at which the Peloponnesians could at- 
tack Athens with their land forces were Attica itself and Thrace. 
Accordingly, Attica was invaded almost every year, and there was 
constant warfare in Thrace. On the other hand, the offensive 
operations of Athens were mainly in the west of Greece, about 
the islands of the Ionian Sea and near the mouth of the Corin- 
thian Gulf. That was the region where they had the best pros- 
pect, by their naval superiority, of detaching members from the 
Peloponnesian alliance. Thrace, Attica, and the seas of western 
Greece were therefore the chief and constant scenes of the war. 

Pericles returned fully to the policy initiated by Themistocles, of 
concentrating all the energy of Athens on the development of her 
naval power. "Let us give up lands and houses," he said, " but 
keep a watch over the city and the sea." The policy of sacrificing 
Attica was only part of a well-considered system of strategy. 
Pericles was determined not to court a great battle, for which the 
land forces of Athens were manifestly insufficient: on land Bceotia 
alone was a match for her. His object was to wear out the enemy, 
not to attempt to subjugate or decisively defeat. 

When the corn was ripe, in the last days of May, King Archida- 
mus with two-thirds of the Peloponnesian army invaded Attica. 43 1 Bc - 
The Athenians brought into the city their families and their goods, 
while their flocks and herds were removed to the island of Eubcea. 
The influx of the population in the city caused terrible crowding. 



200 WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

They seized temples and shrines, and even the ancient enclosure 
of the Pelargicon was occupied, though an oracle forbade its oc- 
cupation. 

Archidamus halted under Mount Parnes, whence he could see 
in the distance the Acropolis of Athens. The proximity of the in- 
vaders caused great excitement in Athens, and roused furious 
opposition to Pericles, who would not allow the troops to go forth 
against them — except a few flying columns of horse in the im- 
mediate neighborhood of the city. The invader presently advanced 
northward, between Mounts Parnes and Pentelicus, to Decelea, 
and proceeded through the territory of Oropus to Bceotia. 

The Athenians, meanwhile, had sent ioo ships round the Pelo- 
ponnesus. The important island of Cephallenia was won over 
and some towns on the Acarnanian coast were taken. More impor- 
tant was the drastic measure which Athens adopted against her 
subjects and former rivals, the Dorians of /Egina. She drove 
out the ^Eginetans and settled the island with a cleruchy of her own 
citizens. i^Egina thus became, like Salamis, annexed to Attica. 

When Archidamus left Attica, Pericles organized a reserve. 
There had been as much as 9700 talents in the treasury, but the 
expenses of the buildings on the Acropolis and of the war at 
Potidasa had reduced this to 6000. It was now decreed that 1000 
talents of this amount should be reserved, not to be touched unless 
the enemy were to attack Athens by sea, and that every year 100 
triremes should be set apart with the same object. 

5. The Plague. The Death of Pericles. — Next year the Peio- 
ponnesians again invaded Attica. But the Athenians concerned 
themselves less with this invasion; they had to contend with a 
more awful enemy within the walls of their city. The plague 
had broken out. Thucydides, who was stricken down himself, 
gives a terrible account of its ravages and the demoralization 
which it produced in Athens. The inexperienced physicians were 
unable to treat the unknown virulent disease, which was aggra- 
vated by the overcrowding, in the heat of summer. The dead lay 



THE PLAGUE. DEATH OF PERICLES 



201 



unburied, the temples were full of corpses; and the funeral cus- 
toms were forgotten or violated. The havoc of the pestilence per- 
manently reduced the population. The total number of Athenians 
(of both sexes and all ages) was about 80,000 in the first quarter 
of the fifth century. 
Prosperity had raised 
it to 100,000 by the 
beginning of the 
war; but the plague 
brought it down be- 
low the old level, 
which it never 
reached again. 

As in the year be- 
fore, an Athenian 
fleet attacked the 
Peloponnesus, but it 
effected nothing. In 
Thrace, meanwhile, 
the siege of Potidaea 
had been prosecuted 
throughout the year. 
The inhabitants had 
been reduced to such 
straits that they even 
tasted human flesh, 
and in the winter they 
capitulated. Athens 
soon afterward colo- 
nized the place. 

Meanwhile, the 
Athenians had been cast into such despair by the plague that 
they made overtures for peace to Sparta. Their overtures were 
rejected, and they turned the fury of their disappointment upon 




Athena contemplating a Stele (Acropolis 
Museum, Athens) 



202 WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

Pericles. He was suspended from the post of strategos; 
his accounts were called for and examined by the Council. 
He was found guilty of "theft" to the trifling amount of five 
talents ; the verdict was a virtual acquittal, though he had to pay 
a fine of ten times the amount; and he was presently reelected 
to the post from which he had been suspended. But Athens was 
not destined to be guided by him much longer. He had lost 
his two sons in the plague, and he died about a year later. In 
his last years he had been afflicted by the indirect attacks of his 
enemies. Pheidias was accused of embezzling part of the public 
money devoted to the works on the Acropolis, in which he was 
engaged, and it was implied that Pericles was cognizant of the 
dishonesty. Pheidias was condemned. Then the philosopher 
Anaxagoras, was publicly prosecuted for holding and propagating 
impious doctrines. Pericles defended his friend, but Anaxagoras 
was sentenced to pay a fine of five talents, and retired to continue 
his philosophical studies at Lampsacus. A similar attack was made 
upon his mistress, Aspasia. The pleading of Pericles procured her 
acquittal, and in the last year of his life the people passed a decree 
to legitimize her son. The latest words of Pericles express what to 
the student of the history of civilization is an important feature of 
his character — his humanity: "No Athenian ever put on black 
for an act of mine." 

6. The Siege and Capture of Plataea. — In the next summer 
Archidamus was induced by the Thebans, instead of invading 
Attica, to march across Cithaeron and lay siege to Plataea. The 
Plataean land was sacred; and the Spartan king proposed to the 
Plataeans that they should evacuate their territory until the end 
of the war; and all should then be restored to them intact. Having 
consulted Athens, which promised to protect them, the Plataeans 
refused, and Archidamus began the siege. The Athenians, how- 
ever, sent no help. 

By various means the besiegers attempted to batter down the 
walls, but were defeated by the ingenuity and resolution of the 



REVOLT OF MYTILENE. NEW LEADERS AT ATHENS 203 

besieged. As a last resource they tried to burn out the town. 
When this device failed, the Peloponnesians saw they would have 
to blockade Plataea. They built a wall of circumvallation about 
one hundred yards from the city, and dug two ditches, one inside 
and one outside this wall. Then Archidamus left part of his army 
to maintain the blockade during the winter. At the end of an- 
other year, the Plataeans saw that they had no longer any hope of 
help from Athens, and their food was running short. They deter- 
mined to make an attempt to escape. On a dark night amid 
rain and storm, about half of the garrison boldly sallied out of the 
city, while their comrades made a diversion on the opposite side. 
The fugitives succeeded in crossing the ditches and wall and 
nearly all of them reached Athens in safety. In the following 
summer, want of food forced the rest to capitulate at discretion to Dec.,428B.c. 
the Lacedaemonians. Five men were sent from Sparta to decide 427 b.c. 
their fate. But each prisoner was merely asked, "Have you in the 
present war done any service to the Lacedaemonians or their allies ?" 
and it was in vain that the Plataeans implored the Lacedaemonians 
to look upon the sepulchers of their own fathers buried in Plataean 
land and honored every year by Plataea with the customary offer- 
ings. They were put to death, two hundred in number, and 
twenty-five Athenians. The city was razed to the ground. 

7. Revolt of Mytilene. New Leaders at Athens. — Archidamus 
had invaded Attica for the third time, and had just quitted it, 4 28 B - c « 
when the news arrived that Mytilene and the rest of Lesbos, with 
the exception of Methymna, had revolted. The Lesbians had a 
large fleet; and the Athenians were feeling so severely the effects 
of the plague and of the war that the rebellion had a good prospect 
of success, if it had been energetically supported by the Peloponne- 
sians. Envoys, who were sent to gain their help, pleaded the cause 
of Lesbos at the Olympian games, which were celebrated this 
year. Lesbos was admitted into the Peloponnesian league, but 
no assistance was sent. 

Meanwhile, the Athenians had blockaded the two harbors of 



204 WAR 0F ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

Mytilene, and Paches soon arrived with one thousand hoplites, to 
complete the investment. Toward the end of the winter, the 
Spartans sent a general to assure the people of Mytilene that an 
armament would be despatched to their relief. But the ships never 
came, and the food ran short. The leaders, in despair, deter- 
mined to make a sally, and for this purpose armed the mass of the 
people with shields and spears. But the people, when they got 
the arms, refused to obey, and demanded that the oligarchs should 
bring forth the corn, and that all should share it fairly; otherwise, 
they would surrender the city. This drove the government to 
capitulate at discretion. 

The ringleaders of the revolt of Mytilene were sent to Athens. 
The Assembly met to determine the fate of the prisoners, and de- 
cided to put to death the whole adult male population, and to 
enslave the women and children. A trireme was immediately 
despatched with this terrible command. 

The fact that the Athenian Assembly was persuaded to press 
the cruel rights of war so far as to decree the extinction of a whole 
population shows how deep was the feeling of wrath that prevailed 
against Mytilene. The revolt had come at a moment when Athens 
was in dire straits, between the plague and the war; and it was the 
revolt, not of a subject, but of a free ally. Athens could more 
easily forgive the rebellion of a subject state which tried to throw 
off her yoke, than repudiation of her leadership by a nominally 
independent confederate. For the action of Mytilene was, in truth, 
an indictment of the whole fabric of the Athenian empire as unjust 
and undesirable. 

The calm sense of Pericles was no longer there to guide and en- 
lighten the Assembly. We now find democratic statesmen of a 
completely different stamp coming forward to take his place. The 
Assembly is swayed by men of the people — tradesmen, like Cleon, 
the leather-merchant, and Hyperbolus, the lamp-maker. These 
men had not, like Aristides, Cimon, and Pericles, family connec- 
tions to start and support them; they had no aristocratic tradi- 



WARFARE IN WESTERN GREECE 205 

tions as the background of their democratic policy. They were 
self-made ; they won their influence in the state by the sheer force 
of cleverness, eloquence, industry, and audacity. 

It was under the influence of Cleon that the Assembly vented 
its indignation against Mytilene by dooming the whole people to 
slaughter. But when the meeting had dispersed, men began, in a 
cooler moment, to realize the inhumanity of their action and to 
question its policy. The envoys of Mytilene, who had been per- 
mitted to come to Athens to plead her cause, seeing this change 
of feeling, induced the generals to summon an extraordinary meet- 
ing of the Assembly for the following morning, to reconsider the 
decree. Thucydides represents Cleon as openly asserting the prin- 
ciple that a tyrannical city must use tyrannical methods, and rule 
by fear. The chief speaker on the other side was a certain Diodo- 
tus, and he handled the question entirely as a matter of policy- 
Trie question for Athens to consider, he said, is not what Mytilene 
deserves, but what it is expedient for Athens to inflict. If the 
people of Mytilene, who were compelled to join with their oligarchi- 
cal government in rebelling, are destroyed, the popular party will 
everywhere be alienated from Athens. 

The supporters of Diodotus won their motion by a very small 
majority, and a trireme was despatched in hot haste to annul the 
previous savage decree. It arrived barely in time; and the in- 
habitants were saved. The ringleaders of the revolt, however, 
were tried and executed at Athens. 

Having taken away the Lesbian fleet and razed the walls of 
Mytilene, the Athenians divided the island, excluding Methymna, 
into three thousand lots, of which three hundred were consecrated 
to the gods. The rest they let to Athenian citizens as cleruchs, 
and the land was cultivated by the Lesbians, who paid an annual 
rent. 

8. Warfare in Western Greece. Tragic Events in Corcyra. — 
While the attention of Greece was directed upon the fortunes of 
Plataca and Mytilene, in the regions of the west the reputation of 



206 WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

the Athenian navy had, under Phormio, won a brilliant double 
victory in the Corinthian Gulf, off Naupactus. 

Corcyra presently became the scene of war in consequence of 
a bloody revolution. The prisoners taken by Corinth in the 
Epidamnian War were released on a promise to conspire against 
Athens; and leaguing themselves with the oligarchs, they slew 
the leaders of the democrats who favored Athens. Street fighting 
followed. A Peloponnesian fleet which came up was driven off 
by the approach of a stronger Athenian armament, and the demo- 
cratic party now slaughtered the oligarchs wholesale. About 
six hundred escaped, and establishing themselves on Mount 
Istone in the northeast of the island, harassed their foes thence for 
two years, till an Athenian fleet brought help to storm the place. 
The oligarchs then capitulated on the understanding that Athens 
was to decide their fate; but, by a trick of the democrats, they were 
induced to attempt to escape, and were caught, and killed in batches. 
Thucydides comments on the whole story as a symptom of the 
terrible rancor which party spirit had generated in the Greek 
city-states. 

9. Nicias and Cleon. Politics at Athens. — At this time Nicias, 
the son of Niceratus, held the chief place as a military authority 
at Athens. A wealthy conservative slave-owner, who speculated 
in the silver mines of Laurion, he was one of the mainstays of that 
party which was bitterly opposed to the new politicians like Cleon. 
He would have been an excellent subordinate officer, but he had 
not the qualities of a leader or a statesman. Yet he possessed a 
solid and abiding influence at Athens through his impregnable 
respectability, his superiority to bribes, and his scrupulous super- 
stition, as well as his acquaintance with the details of military 
affairs. He understood the political value of gratifying in small 
ways those prejudices of his fellow-citizens which he shared him- 
self; and he spared no expense in the religious service of the state. 
He had an opportunity of displaying his religious devotion and 
his liberality on the occasion of the purification of the island of 



ATHENIAN CAPTURE OF PYLOS 207 

Delos, which was probably undertaken to induce Apollo to stay 
the plague. The dead were removed from all the tombs, and it 
was ordained that henceforth no one should die or give birth to a 
child on the sacred island. 

An important feature in the political history of Athens in these 
years was the divorce of the military command from the leader- 
ship in the Assembly. The tradesmen who swayed the Assembly 
had no military training or capacity, and they were always at a 
disadvantage when opposed by men who spoke with the authority 
of a strategos on questions of military policy. Until recent years 
the post of general had been practically confined to men of prop- 
erty and good family. But a change ensued, perhaps soon after 
the death of Pericles, and men of the people were elected. Cleon 
was a man of brains and resolution. He was ambitious to rule 
the state as Pericles had ruled it; and for this purpose he saw 
clearly that he must gain triumphs in the field as well as in the 
Assembly. If he was to exercise a permanent influence on the 
administration, he must be ready, when a good opportunity offered, 
to undertake the post of strategos; and, supported by the ex- 
perience of an able colleague, he need not disgrace himself. Such 
a colleague he might find in Demosthenes, an enterprising com- 
mander, who had recently distinguished himself by successful 
warfare in Ambracia. 

10. The Athenian Capture of Pylos. — It was doubtless through 
the influence of Cleon that Demosthenes, though he received no 425 b.c. 
official command, was sent to accompany a fleet of forty ships 
which was ready to start for the west, under Eurymedon and 
Sophocles. We have already seen this fleet at Corcyra assisting 
the people against the oligarchical exiles who had established 
themselves on Mount Istone. Demosthenes had a plan in his head 
for establishing a military post in the western Peloponnesus; 
and, arriving off the coast of Messenia, he asked the commanders 
to put in at Pylos. But they had heard that the Peloponnesian 
fleet had already reached Corcyra, and demurred at any delay. 



208 



WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 




Wall 



"Camp •.. 



r^, 



But chance favored the design of Demosthenes. Stress of weather 
drove them into the harbor of Pylos, and then Demosthenes pressed 
them to fortify the place. The commanders ridiculed the idea. 
But the stormy weather detained the ships ; the soldiers were idle ; 
and at length, for the sake of something to do, they adopted the 
project of Demosthenes and fell to the work of fortifying Pylos. 

The promontory of Pylos was surrounded on three sides by the 
sea and protected on the harbor side by steep cliffs; only a low 

sand bar connected it with 
the mainland. The point 
was easily defensible; and 
Demosthenes hastened to 
fortify the unprotected 
parts with rude walls. 
When the Spartans heard 
of this exploit of the Athe- 
nians, they sent a detach- 
ment of hoplites to check 
Demosthenes, and hastily 
summoned their fleet from 
Corcyra. Their object was 
to blockade Demosthenes 
and prevent Athenian re- 
enforcements from land- 
ing. To accomplish this 
Sieges of Pylos and Sphacteria they landed a band of 

four hundred and twenty 
Spartans, each with his attendant Helot on the island of Sphac- 
teria, which lies south of the promontory; in the meantime, they 
redoubled their attack upon Demosthenes. 

In reply to urgent messages of Demosthenes, an Athenian 
fleet at last came up; and in a hotly fought action in the harbor 
defeated the Spartan fleet, and thus transformed the siege of Pylos 
into the blockade of Sphacteria. The Spartans, fearing that noth- 




Y 

0MARATHONISI 



"SBl {called the Harbor {TiLfjiyv) 
J$$4» by Thucydides) 

^vQ Spartan Camp 
Well' 



a. Prehistoric Wail round 
the top of Mt.Elias. 

b. The hollow, 
p. Point at which the Mess- 

enians landed to climb into 

the hollow. 

d. Probable landing place of 




(. 



the Athenians. 



ATHENIAN CAPTURE OF PYLOS 209 

ing could be done for their countrymen on the island, asked a truce 
in order to send ambassadors to Athens. The Athenians agreed, 
but demanded the Spartan ships as a pledge of good faith. 

The Assembly at Athens, under the influence of Cleon, made 
such high demands — the surrender of the harbors of Megara and 
several other places which they had lost — that the Spartans re- 
turned and prepared to renew the action. The Athenians, how- 
ever, refused to restore the ships, on the pretext of some slight in- 
fraction of the truce, and the blockade continued. It proved a 
more difficult matter than the Athenians had hoped. Sphacteria 
was an exposed and dangerous coast for the fleet ; and the Spartans, 
stimulating the Helots by offers of freedom, used every means to 
relieve the garrison. 

At home the Athenians grew impatient. They were sorry they 
had declined the overtures of the Spartans, and there was a re- 
action against Cleon. That leader adopted a bold policy. He 
attacked the strategos, Nicias, asserting that he ought to sail and 
capture the island; and added boastfully, " I would do it myself 
if I were commander." Nicias took him at his word, and Cleon 
was forced to make good his boast. Cleon, however, took the pre- 
caution to select Demosthenes as his colleague and to take an over- 
whelming force of hoplites and a large number of light-armed 
troops. Landing these one night, he succeeded in driving the 
Spartans to one end of the island, where they were surrounded and 
forced to surrender to a man. 

Cleon had performed his promise ; he brought back the captives 
within twenty days. The success was of political rather than 
military importance. The Athenians could indeed ravage Lace- 
daemonian territory from Pylos, but it was a greater thing that 
they had in the prisoners a security against future invasions of 
Attica and a means of making an advantageous peace when they 
chose. It was the most important success gained in the war. 
In the following year, Nicias captured the island of Cythera, from 
which he was able to make descents upon Laconia. The loss of 
p 



210 WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

Cythera was in itself more serious for Sparta than the loss of Pylos ; 
but owing to the attendant circumstances, the earlier event made 
far greater stir. 

ii. Athenian Expedition to Bceotia. Delium. — In each of the 
first seven years of the war, Attica was invaded, except twice; 
on one occasion the attack on Plataea had taken the place of the 
incursion into Attica, and, on another, the Peloponnesian army 
was hindered by earthquakes from advancing beyond the Isthmus. 
Every year, by way of reply, the Athenians invaded the Megarid 
twice, in spring and in autumn. The capture of Pylos induced 
them to undertake a bolder enterprise against Megara. This 
enterprise was organized by the generals, Demosthenes and Hip- 
pocrates. They succeeded in capturing the post of Nisaea, and the 
Long Walls, and they would have taken Megara itself but for the 
arrival of the Spartan general, Brasidas, with whom they feared to 
risk an engagement. 

The recovery of Nisaea, which had been lost by the Thirty 
Years' Peace, was a solid success, and it seemed to the ambitious 
hopes of the two generals who had achieved it the first step in the 
recovery of all the former conquests of their city. Hippocrates and 
Demosthenes induced Athens to strive to win back Bceotia, which 
she had lost at Coronea. 

A triple attack was planned. On the southwest Demosthenes 
was to make an inroad from the Corinthian Gulf, while Chaeronaea, 
in the extreme west, was to be seized by domestic conspirators; 
and on the same day Hippocrates, with an Athenian army, was to 
enter Bceotia from the northeast, and capture Delium. The design, 
however, was betrayed, and the Boeotians, checking the landing 
of Demosthenes, and frustrating the plot at Chaeronaea, made a 
general levy to oppose the army of Hippocrates. 

Hippocrates, however, had time to reach and fortify Delium. 
He had a force of 7000 hoplites and over 20,000 light-armed troops. 
A trench, with a strong rampart and palisade, was drawn round 
the temple; and the army then left Delium, to return home. 



ATHENIAN EXPEDITION TO BCEOTIA. DELIUM 211 

But about a mile from Delium, they were suddenly attacked by 
the Bceotarch Pagondas. His army consisted of 7000 hoplites — ■ 
the same number as that of the enemy — 1000 cavalry, and over 
10,000 light-armed men. The Thebans occupied the right wing 
in the unique formation of a mass twenty-five shields deep; the 
other contingents varied in depth. The Athenian line was formed 
with the uniform and regular depth of eight shields. The extreme 
parts of the wings never met, for watercourses lay between them. 




Longitude East, 23 c from Greenwich VTT^ ^''^' 



RMAY .'ENGRAVING CO., N.YV 



Campaigns in Bceotia 



But the rest pushed shield against shield, and fought fiercely. On 
the right the Athenians were victorious, but on the left they could 
not sustain the enormous pressure of the massed Theban force. 
But even the victory on the right was made of no effect through 
the sudden appearance of a squadron of cavalry, which Pagondas, 
seeing the situation, had sent unobserved round the hill. The 
Athenians thought it was the vanguard of another army, and fled. 
Hippocrates was slain, and the army completely dispersed. 



212 WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

The battle of Delium confirmed the verdict of Coronea. Athens 
could not hope to be mistress of Bceotia. 

12 . The War in Thrace. Athens loses Amphipolis. Brasidas. — 

The defeat of Delium eclipsed the prestige of Athens, but did not 
seriously impair her strength. Yet it was a fatal year; and a 
much greater blow was dealt her in her Thracian dominion. 

Perdiccas, the shifty king of Macedonia, played a double game 
between Athens and Sparta. At one time he helped the Chalcidians 
against Athens; at another he sided with Athens against her 
revolted allies. He and the Chalcidians (of Olynthus) feared that 
the success of Pylos might be followed by an increased activity of the 
Athenians in Thrace, and they sent an embassy to Sparta, request- 
ing help, and expressing a wish that Brasidas might be the com- 
mander of whatever auxiliary force should be sent. No Spartans 
went, but seven hundred Helots were armed as hoplites. Having 
obtained some Peloponnesian recruits, and having incidentally, 
as we have already seen, saved Megara, Brasidas marched north- 
ward. 

Brasidas was a Spartan by mistake. He had nothing in com- 
mon with his fellows, except personal bravery, which was the least 
of his virtues. He had a restless energy and spirit of enterprise, 
which received small encouragement from the slow and hesitating 
authorities of his country. He had an oratorical ability which dis- 
tinguished him above the Lacedaemonians, who were notoriously 
unready of speech. He was free from political prejudices, and 
always showed himself tolerant, just, and moderate in dealing 
with political questions. Besides this, he was simple and straight- 
forward; men knew that they could trust his word implicitly. 
But the quality which most effectually contributed to his brilliant 
career, and perhaps most strikingly belied his Spartan origin, 
was his power of winning popularity abroad and making himself 
personally liked by strangers. 

His own tact and rapid movements, as well as the influence of 
Perdiccas, enabled Brasidas to march through Thessaly, which 



NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE 



213 




mm 



SAMOTMRACE CH ' £RSONEs0 ^. 

>j£ THRACIAX^SEA %Mm 



Wf 



Longitude 24 East Pom Greenwich 26 ^rj 



Campaigns of Brasidas 



was by no means well disposed to the Lacedaemonians. Hurry- 
ing through Macedonia he reached the Chalcidice, and having 
secured Acanthus and the 
other Greek towns, he 
made an attempt on Am- 
phipolis, the most impor- 
tant of the Athenian pos- 
sessions in that region. 
This city, owing to the 
neglect of the generals 
Thucydides and Eucles, 
surrendered to Brasidas, 
and the command of the peninsula was lost to the Athenians. 

Having secured the Strymon, Brasidas retraced his steps and 
subdued the small towns on the high eastern tongue of Chalcidice, 
and gained possession of Torone, the strongest city of Sithonia. 

13. Negotiations for Peace. — In the meantime, the Athenians 
had taken no measures to check the victorious winter-campaign 
of Brasidas. The disaster of Delium had disheartened them, 
and rendered the citizens unwilling to undertake fresh toil in 
Thrace ; for in Grecian history we must steadfastly keep in view 
that we are reading about citizen soldiers, not about professional 
soldiers. Further, the peace party, especially represented by the 
generals Nicias and Laches, took advantage of this depression 
to work in the direction of peace. The Lacedaemonians, on their 
part, were more deliberately set on peace than the Athenians. 
Their anxiety to recover the Sphacterian captives increased, and on 
the other hand they desired to put an end to the career of Brasidas 
in Chalcidice. They wished to take advantage of the considerable 
successes he had already won, to extort favorable conditions from 
Athens before any defeat should undo or reverse his triumphs. 
Nor was the news of his exploits received at Sparta with unmixed 
feelings of pleasure; they were rather regarded with jealousy 
and distrust. Accordingly, the two states agreed on a truce for a 



214 WAR 0F ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

year, which would give them time to arrange quietly and at leisure 
the conditions of a permanent peace. 

But by the end of the year there was a marked change in public 
feeling at Athens, and the influence of Cleon was again in the 
ascendant. He adopted the principle of Pericles that Athens 
must maintain her empire unimpaired, and he saw that this could 
not be done without energetic opposition to the progress of Brasi- 
das in Thrace. When the truce expired, Cleon was able to carry 
a resolution that an expedition should be made to reconquer 
Amphipolis. 

14. Battle of Amphipolis. — Cleon set sail with thirty ships, 
bearing twelve hundred Athenian hoplites, and three hundred 
Athenian cavalry, as well as allies. He gained a considerable 
success at the outset by taking Torone and capturing the Lace- 
daemonian governor ; Brasidas arrived too late to relieve it. Cleon 
went on to the mouth of the Strymon and made Eion his head- 
quarters, intending to wait there until he had augmented his army 
by reinforcements. 

Brasidas, meanwhile, was encamped on the other side of the 
Strymon on a hill above Amphipolis. Cleon, whose men grumbled 
at inaction, moved on a reconnaissance close to the walls of Am- 
phipolis, and only then detected the fact that Brasidas, at sight of 
his movement, had slipped into the city and was preparing to 
attack. A retreat was ordered, but carelessly carried out; and 
Brasidas, suddenly charging at the head of one hundred and fifty 
hoplites, threw the whole column into disorder. Cleon fled with his 
men, and was shot down in flight. But elsewhere there was re- 
sistance, and in the confusion Brasidas received his death wound. 
He only lived long enough to be assured of a victory, which his 
death had practically converted into a defeat. The people of 
Amphipolis gave him the honors of a hero. Sacrifices were 
offered to Brasidas, and yearly games celebrated in his honor. 

15. The Peace of Nicias. — The death of Brasidas removed the 
chief obstacle to peace ; for no man was competent or disposed to 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 21 5 

resume his large designs in Thrace. The defeat and death of Cleon 
gave a free hand to Nicias and the peace party. Negotiations were 
protracted during autumn and winter, and the peace was definitely 
concluded about the end of March. The peace, of which Nicias 4 21 B - c « 
and the Spartan king Pleistoanax were the chief authors, was 
fixed for a term of fifty years. Athens undertook to restore all 
the posts which she had occupied during the war against the 
Peloponnesians, including Pylos and Cythera. But she insisted 
upon retaining Sollion and Anactorion, ports on the Acarnanian 
seaboard commanding the communications with Corcyra, and the 
port of Nisaea. The Lacedaemonians engaged to restore Amphip- 
olis and to relinquish Acanthus and other cities in Thrace. All 
captives on both sides were to be liberated. 

When the terms were considered at Sparta by a meeting of 
deputies of the Peloponnesian allies, Corinth was indignant at the 
surrender of Sollion and Anactorion; Megara was furious that 
Nisaea should be abandoned to the enemy; and Bceotia was un- 
willing to hand over Panacton, a fortress in Mount Cithaeron which 
she had recently occupied. Yet Athens could hardly have de- 
manded less. The consequence was that the peace was only 
partial; those allies which were politically of most consequence 
refused to accept it, and they were joined by Elis; the diplomacy 
of Nicias was a complete failure, so far as it aimed at compassing 
an abiding peace. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 86, Sections 27 a, b) 

(References to more extended histories for the topics treated in this and 
the next chapter are too long and detailed : it is therefore advised 
that what supplementary reading be done, be from the sources.) 

Harrison, Greece, 411-429, gives a spirited account of the period, and 
Holm, II, 306-349, a moderately detailed one. 



2l6 WAR OF ATHENS WITH PELOPONNESIANS 

Sources. Topics from Thucydides. (i) Arguments of Athens and Cor- 
inth before the Spartan Assembly, I, 68-78. (2) Funeral Oration 
of Pericles, II, 34-46. (3) The Plague at Athens, II, 47-54. 
(4) The Affair at Pylos, IV, 5-41. (5) The Debate concerning 
Mytilene, III, 37-50. 



CHAPTER XIII 



THE DECLINE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 



i. New Political Combinations with Argos. — The Peace of 
Nicias was a complete failure. Not only did the Corinthians and 
the other chief allies refuse to accede to it, but the signatories 
found themselves unable to carry out the terms they had agreed 
upon. The Chalcidians refused to surrender Amphipolis, and the 
Spartans could not compel them. Athens, therefore, justly de- 
clined to surrender the Sphacterian prisoners. Sparta, impatient 
at all costs to recover them, conceived the device of entering into 
a defensive alliance with their old enemy. This proposal, warmly 
supported by Nicias, was accepted, and the captives were at length 
restored, — Athens still retaining Pylos and Cythera. The alli- 
ance was a mistake for Athens; she gained nothing by it, and sur- 
rendered the best security she had for the fulfillment of the terms 
of the peace. This agreement between Sparta and Athens led 
directly to the dissolution of the Peloponnesian league. Corinth, 
Mantinea, and Elis not only considered themselves deserted by 
their leader, Sparta, but apprehended that, secured by her alliance 
with Athens, she would have a free hand in the Peloponnesus and 
would exercise her power despotically. Accordingly, at the in- 
stigation of Corinth, these Peloponnesian states formed an alliance 
with Argos, who now enters upon the scene. The Chalcidians of 
Thrace joined; and thus the two great states of Greece stood face 
to face with a league which refused to recognize the Peace of Nicias. 

2. Renewal of the War. Alcibiades. — In the following year, 420 b.c. 
these unstable political combinations were upset by the advent of a 
new force at Athens. Alcibiades, son of Cleinias, joined the demo- 

217 



2l8 THE DECLINE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

cratic party, to which, as kinsman of Pericles, he was hereditarily 
bound . Young and rich , he united extraordinary beauty and talents 
to a love of ostentation and an insolence which shocked his fellow- 
citizens. His bravery he had shown, fighting at Delium, where 
his life was saved by his friend Socrates, the philosopher. This 
celebrated friendship between men, at every point the opposite of 
each other, save in talent and courage, was of use to the young 
statesman as an intellectual training. But Alcibiades was a 
statesman with no belief in the principles of his party. Only, at 
present, he saw his way to power through war and conquest, and 
therefore opposed the peace party. 

Meanwhile, an anti-Athenian war-party had grown at Sparta, 
and was seeking to bring about an alliance with Argos. To counter- 
act this, Alcibiades conceived the idea of a league among the de- 
mocracies, and negotiated an alliance with Argos and her allies, 
Elis andMantinea, to last for a hundred years. In the following 

420 b.c. summer, this alliance contrived to exclude Lacedaemonians from 

the Olympian games, on the ground that they had violated the 
sacred truce by an attack on Lepreon: and Alcibiades won the 
chariot-race. Thus his power and popularity grew, while Athens 
and Sparta were estranged, though the Peace of Nicias was not 
formally broken. 

419 b.c. In the following spring, Alcibiades induced the Argives to 

attack the territory of Epidaurus, but he could not induce the 
Athenians to support her ally in adequate force. Sparta, in retalia- 
tion, sent an army under Agis into Argos. The Argive troops 
confronted Agis in the plain nearMemea, and both generals seem 
to have been uncertain of the result, for instead of fighting, they 
made a truce for four months. On both sides there was an outcry, 
and Alcibiades, arriving at Argos with an army under Laches and 
Nicostratus, persuaded the allies to disregard the truce. 

418 b.c. At length, a great battle was fought near Mantinea. The 

numbers must have approached ten thousand on each side. The 
Lacedaemonians were victorious, after a moment of uncertainty, 



FIRST OPERATIONS IN SICILY 219 

when one thousand Argives broke through a gap in their line. 
Both Laches and Nicostratus fell. The victory did much to re- 
store the prestige of Sparta, which had dwindled since the dis- 
aster of Sphacteria. It also transformed the situation in the 
Peloponnesus. The democracy at Argos was replaced by an oli- 
garchy, and the alliance with Athens was abandoned for an alliance 
with Sparta. Mantinea, Elis, and the Achaean towns also went 
over to the victor. Athens was again isolated. 

3. First Operations in Sicily. — During the fifth century the 
eyes of Athenian statesmen often wandered to western Greece 
beyond the seas. Alliance was formed with Segesta, and subse- 
quently with Leontini and Rhegium. One general object of 
Athens was to support the Ionian cities against the Dorian, and 
especially against Syracuse, the daughter and friend of Corinth. 
In 427 B.C. Lecntini sent an embassy to Athens appearing for 
help against Syracuse, who threatened her independence. Nearly 
all the Dorian cities were with Syracuse, while Leontini was sup- 
ported by Rhegium, Catane, Naxos, and Camarina. An expedition 
was sent out under Laches, which induced Messana to join the 
Athenian league, but effected little else. Another fleet, despatched 
in 425 B.C. under Eurymedon and Sophocles, was detained by 
the affairs of Pylos and Corcyra so long that Messana revolted be- 
fore its arrival. Shortly afterward, however, a sedition in Leon- 
tini gave an opportunity, and the city was annexed to Syracuse. 
It became clear that Syracuse merely wanted a free hand for des- 
potism, and Athens was again asked to intervene, but did not 
move seriously until she had conquered the island of Melos, which 
was added to her empire in 416. 

In that year there arrived at Athens an appeal for help from 416 b.c. 
Segesta, which was at war with Selinus, and from the Leontine 
exiles. Athens sent envoys to Sicily, for the purpose of reporting 
on the resources of Segesta, which had undertaken to provide the 
expenses of the war. The ambassadors returned with glowing 
stories of the untold wealth of the people of Segesta.. Nicias wisely 



220 



THE DECLINE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 




opposed the expedition. The people, however, elated by their 
recent triumph over Melos, were fascinated by the idea of making 
new conquests in a distant, unfamiliar world. 
But having committed the imprudence of not 
listening to Nicias, the people went on to 
commit the graver blunder of electing him as 
a commander of the expedition which he dis- 
approved. He was appointed as general 
along with Alcibiades and Lamachus. 

4. The Sicilian Expedition. — When the 
expedition was ready to sail, a mysterious 
event delayed it. One morning in May it was 
found that the square stone figures which 
stood at the entrance of temples and private 
houses in Athens, and were known as Hermae, 
had been mutilated. The enemies of Alcibi- 
ades seized the occasion and tried to impli- 
cate him in the outrage. Alcibiades demanded 
the right of clearing himself from the charge, before the fleet 
started; but his enemies procured the postponement of his trial 
till his return. The fleet then set sail. Thucydides says that 
no armament so magnificent had ever before been sent out by a 
single Greek state. There were 134 triremes, and an immense 
number of smaller attendant vessels; there were 5100 hoplites; 
and the total number of combatants was well over 30,000. 

A halt was made at Rhegium, where disappointments awaited 
them. Rhegium adopted a reserved attitude which the Athenians 
did not expect. In the next place, the Athenians had relied on the 
wealth of Segesta for supporting their expedition, and they now 
learned that the Segestaeans, collecting all the plate they could get 
from their own and other cities, had passed the same service from 
house to house and led the envoys to believe that each of the hosts 
who sumptuously entertained them possessed a magnificent ser- 
vice of his own. 



Coin of Selinus, 
Fifth Century 
(Obverse). Riv- 
er Hypsas sac- 
rificing at Al- 
tar ; Snake 
round the Al- 
tar; Lake Bird; 
Leaf of Seli- 
non [Legend : 

HY*A2] 



THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION 221 

This discovery was a serious blow, but no one, not even Nicias, 
seems to have thought of giving up the enterprise. A council of 
war was held at Rhegium. Nicias proposed to sail about, make 
some demonstrations, secure anything that could be secured with- 
out trouble, and give any help to the Leontines that could be given 
without danger. Alcibiades proposed that active attempts should 
be made to win over the Sicilian cities by diplomacy, and that then, 
having so strengthened their position, they should take steps to 
force Selinus and Syracuse to do right by Segesta and Leontini. 
But Lamachus regarded the situation from a soldier's point of 
view. He advised that Syracuse should be attacked at once, 
while her citizens were still unprepared. Fortunately for Syracuse, 
Lamachus had no influence or authority except on the field; and, 
failing to convince his colleagues, he gave his vote to the plan of 
Alcibiades. 

Naxos and Catane were won over; the Athenian fleet made a 
demonstration in the Great Harbor of Syracuse and captured a 
ship. But nothing more had been done, when a mandate arrived 
from Athens recalling Alcibiades, to stand his trial for impiety. 
The people of Athens had reverted to their state of religious agony 
over the mutilation of the Hermae, and the investigations led to the 
exposure of other profanations, especially of travesties of the 
Eleusinian mysteries, in which Alcibiades was involved. The 
trireme "Salaminia" was sent to summon him to return. He 
went with the Salaminia as far as Thurii, where he made his es- 
cape and went into voluntary exile. The Athenians condemned 
him to death, along with some of his kinsfolk, and confiscated his 
property. 

In Sicily, when Alcibiades had gone, the rest of the year was 
frittered away in a number of small enterprises, which led to nothing. 415 B#c# 
At length, when winter came, the Syracusan army was lured to 
Catane for the purpose of making an attack on the Athenian camp, 
which they were led to believe they would take unawares, while, in 
the meantime, the Athenian host had gone on board the fleet and 



222 THE DECLINE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

sailed off to the Great Harbor of Syracuse, where Nicias landed. 
When the Syracusans returned, a battle was fought, the first battle 
of war, and the Athenians were victorious. A success had been 
gained, but on the day ensuing, Nicias ordered the whole army to 
embark and sail back to Catane. He had numbers of excellent 
reasons — the winter season, the want of cavalry, of money, of 
allies; and, in the meantime, Syracuse was left to make her prepa- 
rations. 

5. Treachery of Alcibiades. — It seemed, indeed, as if a fatal- 
ity dogged Athens. Alcibiades and Lamachus, without Nicias, 
would .probably have captured Syracuse. But, not content with 
the unhappy appointment of Nicias, she must go on to pluck the 
whole soul out of the enterprise by depriving it of Alcibiades. That 
active diplomatist now threw as much energy into the work of 
ruining the expedition as he had given to the work of organizing 
it. He went to Sparta, and was present at the Assembly which 
received a Syracusan embassy, begging for Spartan help. There 
he urged the Spartans to take two measures: to send at once 
a Spartan general to Sicily to organize the defense, and to 
fortify Decelea in Attica, a calamity which the Athenians were 
always dreading. The speech of this powerful advocate turned 
the balance at a most critical point in the history of Hellas. The 
Lacedaemonians were decided by his advice, and appointed an 
officer named Gylippus to take command of the Syracusan forces. 
Corinth, too, sent ships to the aid of her daughter-city. 

6. The Siege of Syracuse. — The city of Syracuse extended from 
the island (Ortygia), which had been joined with the mainland, 
back to the heights (Epipolae) on the north. By a sudden and un- 
expected movement the Athenians succeeded in capturing, almost 
without a blow, these heights, and thus held a commanding posi- 
tion over the city. It was their plan to run two walls from the 
Epipolae ; one to the north to the Bay of Thapsos, the other south- 
ward to the Great Harbor, and thus having cut off Syracuse from 
aid by land to bring their fleet into action and close the Great 



SPARTAN INTERVENTION 



223 



Harbor. The Syracusans, in vain attempting to check the build- 
ing of these walls, at length began to build counterwalls. Fre- 
quent engagements occurred; and in one of these the Syracusans 
inflicted an irreparable in- 
jury on their opponents by 
killing Lamachus. But 
the Athenians were able 
to push their works stead- 
ily southward until Syra- 
cuse, despairing of resist- 
ance, offered to make 
terms. 

7. Spartan Intervention. 
— But all thoughts of sur- 
render vanished when it 
was learned that some 
Corinthian ships were on 
their way to aid Syracuse, 
and with them was coming 
Gylippus, a Spartan gen- 
eral. Gylippus landed on 
the northern side of the 
island, collected a force at 
Himera, and, through the 
carelessness of Nicias, en- 
tered the city from the north. He now took command and 
directed the Syracusans to attack the northern Athenian wall, 
which was as yet unfinished; and to build counterworks to pre- 
vent the Athenians from carrying their wall to the sea. In this 
he was successful, and the Athenians were forced to abandon all 
hope of investing Syracuse. In the meantime, the Spartans had 
acted on the advice of Alcibiades, and had seized and fortified 
Decelea; thus giving them a base from which they could ravage 
Attica. The plan was successful; Attica could not be cultivated, 




The Siege of Syracuse 



224 THE DECLINE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

and Athens was forced to depend for her supplies upon her fleet. 
In spite of their dangerous position, the Assembly listened to the 
pleas of Nicias and sent a second large expedition to Syracuse 
under Eurymedon and Demosthenes. 

8. The Defeat of the Athenians. — When Demosthenes arrived, 
he saw that his hope lay in capturing the Syracusan wall. In his 
attempts to do this he was defeated, and advised a retreat. But 
before this could be accomplished, the Syracusan fleet offered 
battle in the harbor and won such a decisive victory that they 
were able to close the harbor mouth. To break their barricade of 
ships the Athenian fleet and army put forth all their strength. 
They were unsuccessful; were driven back into the middle of the 
harbor, and then to the shore. All that remained was to retreat 
overland, and even this hope was slight, as the Syracusans had 
fortified the passes. Still the army attempted it, and for over a 
week the wretched force straggled along. At length, after Demos- 
thenes had been surrounded and forced to surrender, Nicias, to 
save, if possible, the lives of his once splendid army, surrendered. 
The prisoners were most harshly treated. After being confined in 
the stone quarries for seventy days, they were sold as slaves. The 
expedition had failed; Syracuse had* not been conquered. But 
Athens suffered more than loss of mere prestige, for the lives and 
the treasure she had vainly expended permanently weakened her in 
her struggle with her great rival Sparta. 

9. The Revolt of Allies. — After the Sicilian disaster Athens 
felt the need of a change in her administration. The Lacedaemo- 
nian post at Decelea stopped cultivation, and forced the closing 
of the silver mines at Laurion, thus cutting off a main source of 
revenue. It was perceived that a smaller and more permanent 
body than the Council of Five Hundred was needed, and accord- 
ingly the government was intrusted for the time to a board of 
Ten, named Probuli. At the same time the tribute levied from 
allies was abolished, and replaced by a tax of five per cent on all 
sea-borne exports and imports at the harbors of the Confederacy, 



THE REVOLT OF ALLIES 



225 



including Piraeus. Thus Athens put herself on a level with her 
allies in the matter of taxation. 

But reforms did not avert danger. All of Greece was eager to 
spring on Athens, and her subject allies sent to Sparta declaring 
their willingness to revolt. Thus Sparta was forced into a naval 
policy, and decided to equip a fleet. Athens also spent the winter 
in ship-building. At the same time Persia entered again on the 
stage of Greek history, with the object of regaining the coast cities 
of Asia Minor, by playing off one Greek power against another. 
Tissaphernes, satrap of Sardis, and Pharnabazus, satrap of Hel- 
lespontine Phrygia, sent messengers urging Sparta to action 
and promising alliance, in order to wrest from Athens her Asiatic 
dominions. The revolt was begun by Chios, when a few Spartan 
ships appeared; Miletus, Teos, Lebedus, Mytilene, and others 4 I2B - C - 
quickly joined. 

This successful beginning led to the treaty of Miletus between 
Sparta and Persia. In the hope of humbling to the dust her de- 
tested rival, the city of Leonidas now sold to 
the barbarian the freedom of her fellow- 
Greeks of Asia. Sparta recognized the right 
of the Great King to all the dominion which 
belonged to him and his forefathers, and he 
undertook to supply the pay for the seamen 
of the Peloponnesian fleet operating on the 
Asiatic coast, while the war with Athens 
lasted. The treaty of Miletus opened up a 
path in Greek politics, which was to lead the Persian king to the 
position of arbiter of Hellas. 

Meanwhile, Athens had sent out a fleet which devastated Chios 
and won back Lesbos. But Cnidus and Rhodes joined the revolt, 
and by the beginning of 411 she held on the west coast of Asia 
little but Lesbos, Samos, Cos, and Halicarnassus. Her empire 
in Thrace and on the Hellespont was intact, but she was opposed 
by a strong Peloponnesian fleet with a reinforcement from Sicily 
Q 




Coin of Cnidus 
(Obverse). Head 
of Aphrodite 



226 THE DECLINE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

subsidized by Persia. Yet dissension had arisen between Sparta 
and the Persians. Alcibiades was intriguing — first at Miletus 
and then at Sardis — with Tissaphernes. King Agis of Sparta 
was his enemy, his life was unsafe, and his object was to break the 
alliance between Persia and the enemies of Athens, and so pave 
the way for his restoration to his own country. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 86, Section 27 b, 1) 

1. The Sicilian Expedition. 

Harrison, 444-458. Bury, 466-484. Holm, II, xxvii. 

Sources. The account in Thucydides is too long to be used in its entirety, 
but may well be divided and assigned to sections of the class, as 
suggested in the Syllabus. Plutarch, Life of Nicias; Life of 
Alcibiades (first part). 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE DOWNFALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

i. The Oligarchic Revolution. — At Athens in these months 
there was distress, fear, and discontent. The opportunity for which 
the oligarchs had waited so long had come at last. There was a fair 
show of reason for arguing that the foreign policy had been mis- 
managed by the democracy, and that men of education and 
knowledge had not a sufficient influence on the conduct of affairs. 
The chief of those who desired to see the establishment of a moder- 
ate policy — neither an extreme democracy nor an oligarchy, but 
partaking of both — was Theramenes. The extreme oligarchs 
were ready in the first instance to act in concert with the moderate 
party for the purpose of upsetting the democracy. The soul of 
the plot was Antiphon, an eloquent orator. Other active con- 
spirators were Pisander and Phrynichus, who was one of the 
commanders of the fleet stationed at Samos. The movement 
was favored by the Probuli and by most of the officers of the 
fleet. Moreover, Alcibiades had entered into negotiations with the 
officers at Samos, promising to secure an alliance with Tissa- 
phernes, but representing the abolition of democracy as a neces- 
sary condition. 

It was voted that Pisander and other envoys should be sent to 
negotiate a treaty with Tissaphernes and arrange matters with 
Alcibiades. But it appeared at once that Alcibiades had promised 
more than he could perform. There had, indeed, been a serious 
rupture between Tissaphernes and Sparta. But when it came to 
a question of union with Athens, Tissaphernes proposed im- 
possible conditions to the Athenian envoys, and then made a new 
treaty with the Spartans. But this failure altered nothing. Men 

227 



228 THE DOWNFALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

were convinced that some change in the constitution was inevitable. 
The news that Abydus and Lampsacus had revolted may have 
hastened the final act. A decree was passed that the Probuli 
and twenty others chosen by the people should form a commis- 
sion of thirty who should jointly devise proposals for the safety 
May, 411 b.c. of the state, and lay them before the Assembly on a fixed day. 
When the day came, a radical change was brought forward and 
carried. The sovereign Assembly was to consist in future, not of 
the whole people, but of a body of about Five Thousand, those who 
were strongest physically and financially. Pay for almost all 
public offices was to be abolished. To these revolutionary meas- 
ures a saving clause was attached: they were to remain in force 
"as long as the war lasts." 

When the Five Thousand were elected, they chose a commission 
of one hundred men to draw up a constitution. The commission 
thus chosen devised a constitution, but they also enacted that the 
state should be administered by a Council of Four Hundred 
till the constitution should be established. The Four Hundred 
were instituted as merely a provisional government, but the entire 
administration was placed in their hands, the management of the 
finances, and the appointment of the magistrates. The Five Thou- 
sand were to meet only when summoned by the Four Hundred, 
so that the Assembly ceased to have any significance, and the 
provisional constitution was an unadulterated oligarchy. 

2. Fall of the Four Hundred. The Democracy Restored. — 
For more than three months the Four Hundred governed 
the city with a high hand, and then they were overthrown. 
The sailors in the fleet at Samos rose against the oligarchic 
officers: the chief leaders of this reaction were Thrasybulus 
and Thrasyllus. The Assembly, which had been abolished 
at Athens, was called into being at Samos, and the army, repre- 
senting the Athenian people, deposed the generals and elected 
others. They hoped still to obtain the alliance of Persia, through 
the good offices of Alcibiades, whose recall and pardon were 



FALL OF THE FOUR HUNDRED 229 

formally voted. Thrasybulus fetched Alcibiades to Samos, and 
he was elected a general, but the hoped-for alliance with Persia 
was not effected. Negotiations were begun with the oligarchs at 
Athens, and Alcibiades expressed himself satisfied with the As- 
sembly of Five Thousand, but insisted that the Four Hundred 
should be abolished. There was a cleavage in the Four Hundred, 
the extreme oligarchs on one side, led by Antiphon and Phryni- 
chus, the moderate reformers on the other, led by Theramenes. 
While the moderates accepted gladly the proposals of the army at 
Samos, the extreme party looked to the enemy for support and 
sent envoys to Sparta for the purpose of concluding a peace. In 
the meantime, they fortified Eetionea, the mole which formed the 
northern side of the entrance to the Great Harbor of Piraeus. The 
object was to command the entrance so as to be able either to 
admit the Lacedaemonians or to exclude the fleet of Samos. 

When the envoys returned from Sparta without having made 
terms, the movement against the oligarchs took shape. Phryni- 
chus was slain by foreign assassins in the market-place. The sol- 
diers who were employed in building the fort at Eetionea were 
instigated by Theramenes to declare against the oligarchy, and, 
after a great tumult at the Piraeus, the walls of the fort were pulled 
down. When the agitation subsided, peaceable negotiations 
with the Four Hundred ensued. A day was fixed for an Assembly 
to discuss a settlement. But on the very day, just as the As- 
sembly was about to meet, a Lacedaemonian squadron appeared 
off the coast of Salamis. Euboea was threatened, and the Athenians 
depended entirely on Euboea, now that they had lost Attica. The 
Athenians sent thirty-six ships to Eretria, where they were forced Sept., 411 b.c. 
to fight at once and were utterly defeated. Euboea then revolted. 

Athens now had no reserve of ships, the army at Samos was hostile ; 
Euboea, from which she derived her supplies, was lost, and there 
was feud and sedition in the city. But the Lacedaemonians let 
the opportunity slip. An Assembly in the Pnyx deposed the Four 
Hundred, and voted that the government should be placed in the 



230 THE DOWNFALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

hands of a body consisting of all those who could furnish them- 
selves with arms, which body should be called the Five Thousand. 
Legislators (nomotheta) were appointed to draw up the details of 
the constitution. Most of the oligarchs escaped to Decelea, but 
Antiphon was executed. 

3. The Restored Democracy. Cyzicus. — The chief promoter 
of the new constitution was Theramenes, who, from the very be- 
ginning, desired to organize a government, with democracy and 
oligarchy duly mixed. His acquiescence in a temporary oligarchy 
was a mere matter of necessity; and the nickname of Cothurnus 
— the loose buskin that fits either foot — given to him by the 
oligarchs was not deserved. 

The Peloponnesians were now vigorously assisted by Pharna- 
bazus, who was a far more valuable and trustworthy ally than 
Tissaphernes. In the spring, Mindarus laid siege to Cyzicus, and 
the satrap supported him with an army. The Athenian fleet of 
eighty-six ships succeeded in passing the Hellespont unseen, and 
in three divisions, under Alcibiades, Theramenes, and Thrasy- 
bulus, took Mindarus by surprise. After a hard-fought battle 
both by land and sea, the Athenians were entirely victorious, 
Mindarus was slain, and about sixty triremes were taken or sunk. 
A laconic despatch, announcing the defeat to the Spartan ephors, 
was intercepted by the Athenians: " Our success is over; Mindarus 
is slain; the men are starving ; we know not what to do." Sparta 
immediately made proposals of peace to Athens, but the over- 
tures were rejected. 

The victory of Cyzicus enabled the democratic party at Athens 
to upset the organization of Theramenes and restore the old con- 
stitution. The years following the victory were marked by opera- 
tions in the Propontis and its neighborhood. The Athenians, 
under the able and strenuous leadership of Alcibiades, slowly 
gained ground, till Athens once more completely commanded 
the Bosphorus. Nearer home, Athens lost Nisaea to the Mega- 
rians; and Pylos was at length recovered by Sparta. 



CYRUS AND LYSANDER 23 1 

4. Cyrus and Lysander. — But the affairs of the west had begun 
to engage the attention of the Great King, Darius, who, aware that 
the jealousy of the two satraps hindered an effective policy, sent 
down his younger son Cyrus to take the place of Tissaphernes at 
Sardis, with jurisdiction over Cappadocia, Phrygia, and Lydia. 
The government of Tissaphernes was confined to Caria. The 
arrival of Cyrus on the scene marks a new turning-point in the 4°7 b.c. 
progress of the war. 

Prince Cyrus was zealous, but his zeal might have been of little 
use, were it not for the simultaneous appointment of a new Spartan 
admiral. This was Lysander, who was destined to bring the long 
war to its close. He gained the confidence of his seamen by his 
care for their interests, and he won much influence over Cyrus 
by being absolutely proof against the temptation of bribes, — a 
quality at which an Oriental greatly marveled. In prosecuting the 
aims of his ambition Lysander was perfectly unscrupulous, and 
he was a skillful diplomatist as well as an able general. 

5. Return of Alcibiades. Battles of Notion and the Arginusae 
Islands. — While Cyrus and Lysander were negotiating, Alcibiades, 
after an exile of eight years, had returned to his 
native city. He had been elected strategos, and 
had received an enthusiastic welcome. The citi- 
zens trusted in his capacity as a general, and they 
thought that by his diplomatic skill they might 
still be able to come to terms with Persia. So Coin of Eleu- 

a decree was passed, giving him full powers for SIS ( Reverse )- 

1 , r 1 1, , 1 r Pig on Torch; 

the conduct of the war, and he was solemnly freed pig's Head 

from the curse which rested upon him as pro- and Ivy Leaf 

faner of the Eleusinian rites. He had an oppor- BELOW L Le - 

r , . , . • , , 1. . . f GEND: EAEY2I] 

tunity of making his peace with the divinities of 
Eleusis. Ever since the occupation of Decelea, which he had 
done so much to bring about, the annual procession from Athens 
along the Sacred Way to the Eleusinian shrine had been sus- 
pended. Under the auspices of Alcibiades, who protected the 




232 THE DOWNFALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

procession by an escort of troops, the solemnity was once more 
celebrated in the usual way. But a slight incident completely 
changed the current of feeling in Athens. An Athenian fleet was 
at Notion, keeping guard on Ephesus, and Lysander succeeded in 
defeating it and capturing fifteen ships. Though Alcibiades was 
not present at the battle, he was responsible, and he lost his prestige 
at Athens. New generals were appointed immediately, and Al- 
cibiades withdrew to a castle on the Hellespont. Conon succeeded 
him in the chief command of the navy. 

The Peloponnesians during the following winter organized a 
fleet of greater strength than they had had for many years — 140 
ships; but Lysander had to make place for a new admiral, Cal- 
licratidas. Conon, who had only 70 ships, was forced into a 
battle outside Mytilene and lost 30 triremes in the action. The 
remainder were blockaded in the harbor of Mytilene. The situa- 
tion was critical, and Athens did not underrate the danger. The 
gold and silver dedications in the temples of the Acropolis were 
melted to defray the costs of a new armament ; and at the end of a 
month Athens and her allies sent a fleet of 150 triremes to relieve 
Mytilene. Callicratidas, who had now 170 ships, left 50 to main- 
tain the blockade and sailed with the rest to meet the foe. A great 
battle was fought near the islets of the Arginusae, south of Lesbos, 
and the Athenians were victorious. Seventy Spartan ships were 
sunk or taken, and Callicratidas was slain. 

The success had not been won without a certain sacrifice ; twenty- 
five ships had been lost with their crews. It was believed that 
many of the men, floating about on the wreckage, might have 
been saved. The generals were suspended from their office, and 
summoned to render an account of their conduct. Probably 
there had been criminal negligence somewhere, and the natural 
emotion of indignation which the people felt betrayed them into 
committing a crime themselves. The question was judged by the 
Assembly, and not by the ordinary courts. Two sittings were 
held, and the eight generals who had been present at Arginusae 



BATTLE OF .EGOSPOTAMI 233 

were condemned to death and confiscation of property. Six, 
including Thrasyllus and Pericles, son of the great statesman, were 
executed; the other two had prudently kept out of the way. 

The victory of Arginusae restored to the Athenians the command 
of the eastern JEge&n, and induced the Lacedaemonians to repeat 
their propositions of peace. Through the influence of the dema- 
gogue Cleophon,who is said to have come into the Assembly drunk, 
the offer was rejected. Nothing was left for the Spartans but to 
reorganize their fleet. It was generally felt that if further Persian 
cooperation was to be secured and the Peloponnesian cause to be 
restored, the command of the fleet must again be intrusted to 
Lysander. But there was a law at Sparta that no man could be 
admiral a second time. On this occasion the law was evaded by 
sending Lysander out as secretary, but on the understanding that 
the actual command lay with him and not with the nominal ad- 
miral. An unlooked-for event gave him still greater power and 
prestige. King Darius was very ill, his death was expected, and 
Cyrus was called to his bedside. During his absence, Cyrus in- 
trusted to his friend Lysander the administration of his satrapy 
and the tribute. He knew that money was no temptation to this 
exceptional Spartan, and he feared to trust such power to a Per- 
sian noble. 

6. The Battle of jEgospotami. — With these resources behind 
him, Lysander speedily proved his ability. He sailed to the Hel- 
lespont and laid siege to Lampsacus. The Athenian fleet of 
one hundred and eighty ships reunited and followed him thither, 
and anchored at vEgospotami, " Goat's River." It was a bad 405 b.c, end 
position, as all the provisions had to be fetched from Sestus at a 
distance of about two miles, while the Peloponnesian fleet was in 
an excellent harbor with a well-supplied town behind. Sailing 
across the strait, the Athenians found the enemy drawn up for 
battle, but under orders not to move until they were attacked, and 
in such a strong position that an attack would have been unwise. 
They were obliged to return to iEgospotami. For four days the 



of summer 



234 THE DOWNFALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

same thing happened. Each day the Athenian fleet sailed across 
the strait and endeavored to lure Lysander into an engagement; 
each day its efforts were fruitless. From his castle in the neigh- 
borhood Alcibiades descried the dangerous position of the 
Athenians, and riding over to ^gospotami earnestly counseled 
the generals to move to Sestus. His sound advice was received 
with coldness, perhaps with insult. When the fleet returned 
from its daily cruise to Lampsacus, the seamen used to disembark 
and scatter on the shore. On the fifth day Lysander sent scout 
ships, which, as soon as the Athenian crews had gone ashore for 
their meal, were to flash a bright shield as a signal. When the 
signal was given, the whole Peloponnesian squadron, consisting 
of about two hundred galleys, rowed rapidly across the strait and 
found the Athenian fleet defenseless. There was no battle, no 
resistance. Twenty ships, which were in a condition to fight, 
escaped ; the remaining one hundred and sixty were captured at 
once. It was generally believed that there was treachery among 
the generals. All the Athenians who were taken, to the number of 
three or four thousand, were put to death. The chief commander, 
Conon, who was not among the unready, succeeded in getting away. 
It would have been madness for the responsible commander 
to return to Athens with the tidings of such a terrible disaster; 
and Conon, sending home twelve of the twenty triremes which had 
escaped, sailed himself with the rest to the protection of Evagoras, 
the king of Salamis, in Cyprus. Never was a decisive victory 
gained with such small sacrifice as that which Lysander gained 
at iEgospotami. 

7. Surrender of Athens. — The tidings of ruin reached the 
Piraeus at night, and "on that night not a man slept." They had 
now to make preparations for sustaining a siege. But the block- 
ade was deferred by the policy of Lysander. He did not intend to 
attack Athens, but to starve it into surrender. Having completed 
the subjugation of the Athenian empire in the Hellespont and 
Thrace, and ordered affairs in those regions, Lysander sailed at 



SURRENDER OF ATHENS 235 

length into the Saronic Gulf with one hundred and fifty ships, 
occupied ./Egina, and blockaded the Piraeus. At the same time 
the Spartan king Pausanias entered Attica, and, joining forces 
with Agis, encamped in the Academe, west of the city. But the 
walls were too strong to attack, and at the beginning of winter 
the army withdrew, while the fleet remained near the Piraeus. As 
provisions began to fail, the Athenians made a proposal of peace, 
offering to resign their empire and become allies of Lacedaemon. 
The ephors refused to receive the envoys unless they brought more 
acceptable terms, including the demolition of the Long Walls for 
a length of ten stades. It was folly to resist, yet the Athenians 
resisted. The demagogue Cleophon, who had twice hindered the 
conclusion of peace when it might have been made with honor, 
now hindered it again. But the situation was hopeless. People 
were dying of famine, and the reaction of feeling had been marked 
by the execution of Cleophon. Theramenes was sent to Sparta 
with full powers. It is interesting to find that during these anx- 
ious months a decree was passed recalling to Athens an illustrious 
citizen — the historian Thucydides. 

An assembly of the Peloponnesian allies was called together at 
Sparta to determine how they should deal with the fallen foe. 
The general sentiment was that no mercy should be shown; that 
Athens should be utterly destroyed and the whole people sold into 
slavery. But Sparta resolutely rejected the barbarous proposal 
of the confederacy ; she would not blot out a Greek city which had 
done such noble services to Greece against the Persian invader. 
The terms of the peace were: the Long Walls and fortifications of 
the Piraeus were to be destroyed ; the Athenians lost all their foreign 
possessions, but remained independent, confined to Attica and Sala- 
mis; their whole fleet was forfeited; all exiles were allowed to 
return; Athens became the ally of Sparta, pledged to follow her 
leadership. When the terms were ratified, Lysander sailed into 
the Piraeus. The demolition of the Long Walls immediately April, 404 b.c. 
began. The Athenians and their conquerors together pulled them 



236 THE DOWNFALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

down to the music of flute-players; and the jubilant allies thought 
that freedom had at length dawned for the Greeks. 

It is not to be supposed that all Athenians were dejected and 
wretched at the terrible humiliation which had befallen their 
native city. There were numerous exiles who owed their return 
to her calamity; and the extreme oligarchical party rejoiced in the 
foreign occupation, regarding it as an opportunity for the sub- 
version of the democracy. Theramenes looked forward to mak- 
ing a new attempt to introduce his favorite plan of government. 
Of the exiles, the most prominent and determined was Critias, a 
pupil of Gorgias and a companion of Socrates, an orator, a poet, 
and a philosopher. A combination was formed between the 
exiles and the home oligarchs; a common plan of action was 
organized; and the chief democratic leaders were presently 
seized and imprisoned. The intervention of Lysander was then 
invoked for the establishing of a new constitution, and, awed by 
his presence, the Assembly passed a measure that a body of 
Thirty should be nominated, for the purpose of drawing up laws 
and managing public affairs until the code should be completed. 
Critias and Theramenes were among the Thirty who were 
appointed. 

8. Rule of the Thirty. — The first measures of the Thirty were 
to appoint a Council of Five Hundred, consisting of strong sup- 
porters of oligarchy, invested with the judicial functions which had 
before belonged to the people. The chief democrats, who on the 
fall of Athens had opposed the establishment of an oligarchy, 
were then seized, tried by the Council, and condemned to death 
for conspiracy. So far there was unanimity; but Theramenes and 
his party were opposed to the reign of terror which followed. The 
Thirty had announced as part of their programme that they would 
purge the city of wrong-doers. They put to death a number of 
men of bad character; but they presently proceeded to execute, 
with or without trial, even men of oligarchical views. The man 
whom perhaps they had most reason to fear, Alcibiades, had fled 



RULE OF THE THIRTY 237 

from his Hellespontine castle to the protection of Pharnabazus. 
The oligarchs passed a decree of banishment against him, and soon 
afterward he was murdered, by the order of Pharnabazus, who 
acted at the suggestion of Lysander, and it was said that Lysander 
was instigated by the tyrants of Athens. 

To the motives of fear and revenge was soon added the appetite 
for plunder; and some men were executed because they were rich. 
To these judicial murders and this organized system of plunder- 
ing, Theramenes was unreservedly opposed. The majority of the 
Council shared his disapprobation; and he would have been able 
to establish a moderate constitution, but for the ability and strength 
of Critias. His representations, indeed, induced the Thirty to 
create a body of three thousand citizens, who had the privilege of 
bearing arms and the right of being tried by the Council. 

In the meantime, the exiles whom the oligarchy had driven from 
Athens were not idle. They had found refuge in those neighboring 
states — Corinth, Megara, and Thebes — which had been bitter 
foes of Athens, but were dissatisfied with the high-handed pro- 
ceedings of Sparta, who would not give them a share in the spoils 
of the war. These states were not only ready to grant hospitality 
to Athenian exiles, but to lend some help toward delivering their 
city from the oppression of the tyrants. The first step was made 
from Thebes. Thrasybulus and Anytus, with a band of seventy 
exiles, seized the Attic fortress of Phyle, in the Parnes range, close 
to the Boeotian frontier, and put into a state of defense the strong 
stone walls, whose ruins are still there. 

The oligarchs were now in a dangerous position, menaced with- 
out by an enemy against whom their attack had failed, menaced 
within by a strong opposition. They saw that the influence of 
Theramenes would be thrown into the scale against them, and they 
resolved to get rid of him. Fearing that he would be acquitted by 
the Council, Critias struck the name of Theramenes from the list 
of the Three Thousand, and boldly condemned him to death. 

After the death of Theramenes, the Thirty succeeded in dis- 



238 THE DOWNFALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

arming, by means of a stratagem, all the citizens who were not 
enrolled in the list of the Three Thousand, and expelled them from 
the city. But with a foe on Attic ground, growing in numbers 
every day, Critias and his fellows felt themselves so insecure, that 
they took the step of sending an embassy to Sparta, to ask for a 
Lacedaemonian garrison. The request was granted, and seven 
hundred men, under Callibius, were introduced into the Acropolis. 

9. Overthrow of the Thirty. Restoration of Democracy. — 
The Thirty had reason to fear that many of their partisans were 
wavering. Deciding to secure a place of final refuge in case 
Athens should become untenable, they seized Eleusis. This 
measure had hardly been carried out when Thrasybulus de- 
scended from Phyle and seized the Piraeus. He had now about one 
thousand men, but the Piraeus, without fortifications, was not an 
easy place to defend. He drew up his forces on the hill of Muny- 
chia, at the summit of a steep street. Highest of all stood the darters 
and slingers, ready to shoot over the heads of the hoplites. Thus 
posted, Thrasybulus awaited the attack of the Thirty. A shower 
of darts descended on their heads as they mounted the hill, and, 
while they wavered for a moment under the missiles, the hoplites 
rushed down on them, led by a prophet, who had foretold his own 
May, 403 b.c. death in the battle and was the first to perish. Seventy of the 
enemy were slain ; among them Critias himself. 

The oligarchic party now tried a change of constitution, and a 
meeting of the Three Thousand replaced the Thirty by a new board 
of Ten, representing the moderate oligarchs. But they could not 
come to terms with Thrasybulus, who daily gained strength in the 
Piraeus, and were forced to apply to Sparta. Lysander led an army 
to Eleusis; but he was now distrusted at Sparta, and the com- 
mand was transferred from him to King Pausanias. Under the 
auspices of Pausanias, a reconciliation was effected. There was 
to be a general pardon, from which were excepted only the Thirty 
and their successors. Nomothetcz were appointed to revise the 
constitution, and these lawgivers restored the old democracy of 



LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD 239 

Pericles. Eleusis was still held by the oligarchs as an independent 
city, but after about two years it was attacked and captured, and 
Attica was again one state. The amnesty was faithfully observed 
by the democrats, but for more than three generations no oligar- 
chical party had a chance of success in Athens. The city did not 
forget the doings of the Thirty. 

10. Literature of the Period. — (1) History. — The historian of 
the Peloponnesian War was Thucydides. It was his aim to show 
that the war was the greatest in which Greece had ever engaged, 
and for this purpose he magnified it as much as possible ; but aside 
from this rather narrow point of view, his treatment is admirable. 
He wrote from such careful personal observation and investiga- 
tion that modern criticism can find little to correct. Unlike 
Herodotus, Thucydides avoids anecdote, and his sketches of 
character are nearly always conveyed in speeches which represent 
not the words of the speakers but the ideas of the historian. Al- 
though closely connected with the oligarchical party, Thucydides 
gives the best information concerning the misdeeds of that party 
at Athens. 

Xenophon belongs to a later school, influenced and guided by 
the spirit of Socrates. He was a typical Athenian, keen and alert, 
interested in politics and philosophy, able to take command of a 
forlorn hope, as he did in the retreat of the Ten Thousand; and 
equally able to recount his adventures in the form of an interest- 
ing and scholarly history. His chief historical writings are the 
Anabasis and the Hellenica; in addition he wrote the Memorabilia, 
containing a simple account of the method of instruction and the 
views of his master Socrates. 

(2) Drama. — The drama was represented in this age by Eu- 
ripides and Aristophanes. According to tradition, Euripides was 
born in the year of the battle of Salamis and lived till 406, and 
wrote over ninety dramas. Differing from both ^Eschylus and 
Sophocles, he took his characters from the men of everyday life 
and sought to convey instruction, not directly but indirectly, by 



240 THE DOWNFALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

representing life as it is. Among his great works are the 
Orestes and the Alcestis. 

Aristophanes was the great writer of comedy, which in Athens 
filled the place now taken by newspapers and caricatures. He was 
the spokesman of the dissatisfied, and subjected to ridicule the 
leaders of the democracy. He was a great poet with wonderful 
wit and inventive power, but not a reformer nor a man of lofty 
ideals; his aim was to give amusement and to produce a laugh. 
The Clouds, the Wasps, the Birds, and the Frogs are among his 
more important works. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 87) 

1. The Story of the War. 

A very brief summary in West, 192-196. Bury, 489-507. De- 
tailed account in Holm, II, 482-508. 
Source. Plutarch, Alcibiades. 

2. Constitutional Changes; Restoration of the Democracy. 
Bury, 507-514. Holm, III, xxx. 

3. Literature. 

(1) History. Jebb, Primer, 101-109. Holm, II, 435-440; 111,159- 
162. 

(2) Drama. Jebb, 96-101. Holm, 440-452. 

Sources. Jennings and Johnston, Half-hours with Greek and Latin 
Authors. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND THE PERSIAN WAR 

i. The Spartan Supremacy. — For thirty years after iEgos- 
potami, Sparta was engaged in the attempt to maintain and ex- 
tend her dominion beyond the Peloponnesus. She failed, because 
neither the Spartan institutions nor the Spartan character were 
fit to deal with freemen abroad. In each of the cities which had 
passed from Athenian into Spartan control, a government of ten, 
called a decarchy, was set up, which derived its authority from 
a Lacedaemonian harmost with a Lacedaemonian garrison. The 
cities were thus given over to a twofold oppression. The foreign 
governors were rapacious, and were practically free from home 
control; the native oligarchies were generally tyrannical, and got 
rid of their political opponents by judicial murders ; and both 
decarchs and harmost played into each other's hands. 

Meanwhile Lysander, who had established the Spartan empire, 
was too powerful and too ostentatious to be endured at Sparta. 
He was recalled from Samos, where he held a sort of royal court, 
and a letter from Pharnabazus which he brought, proved to be not 
an encomium, but an accusation. He was allowed to escape into 
banishment under the plea of a pilgrimage to the temple of Zeus 403 b.c. 
Ammon in Libya. But the same influences which had ruined him 
were at work to ruin Sparta. The empire paid a tribute of a 
thousand talents yearly, to maintain the Spartan power, and this 
influx of money, in defiance of the Lycurgean discipline, brought 
the corruption which that discipline was designed to avoid. 

2. The Rebellion of Cyrus and the March of the Ten Thousand. 
— On the death of Darius, his eldest son, Artaxerxes, succeeded to 

R 241 



242 SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 

the throne. When Cyrus, the younger son, returned to his satrapy 
in Asia Minor, he began to form plans for overthrowing his brother 
and seizing the throne. He relied largely on an army of Greek 
mercenaries, which he began to enlist. With this contingent, led 
by Clearchus, a Spartan, he set forth on his march in the spring 
of 401. 

The real purpose of the march was at first carefully concealed 
from all except Clearchus, and a pretext for the expedition was 
found in the continual border wars which the satrap was forced to 
wage. Among those who were induced, by the prospect of high 
pay, to join the expedition was Xenophon, an Athenian knight, 
who was one of the pupils and companions of the philosopher 
Socrates. His famous history of the Anabasis, or the Up-going of 
the Greeks with Cyrus, and their subsequent retreat, enables us 
to follow step by step a journey through the inner parts of Asia 
Minor, into the heart of the Persian empire beyond the Euphrates 
and the Tigris. 

Setting out from Sardis, Cyrus marched southeast through 
Phrygia ; thence, after a detour to the north, southeast again through 
the Cilician gates, a narrow pass at which his army might have 
been checked, and so to Tarsus. Here the Greek troops mutinied ; 
but Clearchus regained his control by showing that they must push 
on, since retreat was impossible. Through the cowardice of the 
Persian general, the forces of Cyrus were allowed to march through 
the narrow pass at the Syrian gates, and in twelve days reached 
Thapsacus and the Euphrates. Crossing the river they continued 
for thirteen days through the desert, until they reached Cunaxa. 

Here they encountered the overwhelming army of the Great King. 
What might have been a victory for Cyrus was turned into a defeat 
by his own headlong rashness and the narrow-mindedness of Clear- 
chus. The Greek contingent carried all before it, but everywhere 
else the rebel army was defeated, and Cyrus himself was slain. 

The position of the ten thousand Greeks was most precarious. 
In the center of the Persian empire, surrounded by the innumer- 



REBELLION OF CYRUS 



243 



able hosts of the Great King, and their patron Cyrus dead, they 
might well have been daunted. To add to their misfortunes 
Tissaphernes seized and slew Clearchus and four of their other 
generals. But the Greeks resolved to fight their way back to the 
sea, and elected other generals, among them Xenophon, and be- 
gan their long march. Marching up the valley of the Tigris, over 
the Carduchian Mountains, harassed continually by the army of 
Tissaphernes and attacked by the savage natives, at length they 




PARASANGS STADIA 

10 20 30 4 50 600 1000 150 

ENGLISH MILES 
50 100 200 300 



BORMAY E. CO., N.Y. 

Expedition of Cyrus and Retreat of the Ten Thousand 



reached Armenia. Through the snow, weakened by cold and 
hunger, the army struggled on until at last the welcome shout of 
"The Sea, the Sea" heralded the sight of the Propontis, the 
goal which marked the end of the most dangerous part of their 
long retreat. 

From Trapezus, on the shore of the Propontis, they continued 
their retreat, partly by land and partly by sea, until they reached 
Chalcedon. Here, instead of disbanding, the army, holding together 




244 SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 

as a unit, was employed first by a Spartan and then by a Thracian 
general. At length war broke out between Sparta and Persia, and 
the Lacedaemonians, mindful of the lesson which the march of The 
Ten Thousand had taught, employed the remaining 
six thousand to fight against their former enemy. 

3. War of Sparta with Persia. Agesilaus. — 
Cyrus, when bidding for Greek support, had insti- 
gated the Ionian cities to revolt from their satrap 
Coin of Tra- Tissaphernes. After the defeat of Cyrus at Cu- 

pezus (Ob- naxa? Tissaphernes returned to the ^Egean coast 
verse). Male , . ._,...,_. 

Head and attempted to recover the Greek cities. Ine 

Asiatic Greeks sent to Sparta an appeal for her 
protection. The relations of Sparta to Persia were no longer 
friendly, for Sparta had sent seven hundred hoplites to Cyrus. 
The opportunity of plundering the wealthy satrapies of Pharna- 
bazus and Tissaphernes was a bait for Spartan cupidity; the 
prospect of gaining signal successes against Persia appealed to 
Spartan ambition. These considerations induced Sparta to send 
an army to Asia, and this army was increased, as already stated, 
by the remains of the famous Ten Thousand. Taking advantage 
of a misunderstanding between the two satraps, the general 
Dercyllidas succeeded in getting into his hands the Troad, — or 
/Eolis, as it was called, — which served the Spartans against the 
satrapy of Pharnabazus somewhat as Decelea had served them in 
Attica ; it was a fortified district in the enemy's country. 

Dercyllidas was now superseded by a new and leading personage 
in Greek affairs — King Agesilaus, who had become king of Sparta 
under exceptional circumstances. When King Agis died, Lysan- 
der, who had returned to Sparta with revolutionary schemes, de- 
sired a pliant successor. Leotychidas, son of Agis, was reputed to 
be illegitimate, and by Lysander's influence Agesilaus, the half- 
brother of Agis, was made king instead. Agesilaus had always 
shown himself singularly docile and gentle, and had never put him- 
self forward in any way. Though strong and brave, he was lame, 






SPARTAN AGGRESSION. DEATH OF LYSANDER 245 

and an oracle bade Sparta "beware of a halt reign." But Lysan- 
der explained away the oracle, in his eagerness to see an apt tool 
on the throne. He was mistaken in his man. Agesilaus, under 
the mask of Spartan discipline, covered a proud and ambitious 
character. 

It was arranged that Agesilaus should take the place of Dercyl- 396 b.c. 
lidas; that he should take with him a force of two thousand 
freedmen, and a military council of thirty Spartans, including 
Lysander. Lysander expected that the real command in the war 
would devolve upon himself. But Agesilaus had no intention of 
being merely a nominal chief, and inflicted deliberate humilia- 
tions, till Lysander was sent, at his own request, on a separate 
mission to the Hellespont, where he did useful work for Sparta. 
Agesilaus himself made a successful inroad into Phrygia, whence 
he brought much booty to Ephesus. Having organized a force 
of cavalry during the winter, he took the field in the spring, and 
gained a victory over Tissaphernes, who was completely discred- 395 b.c. 
ited. Tithraustes was sent to the coast to succeed him and put 
him to death. An offer was now made by Tithraustes to Agesilaus, 
that the Spartans should leave Asia, on condition that the Greek 
cities should enjoy complete autonomy, paying only their original 
tribute to Persia. Agesilaus could not agree without consulting 
his government at home, and an armistice of six months was 
concluded. 

But, meanwhile, the Athenian Conon, burning to be revenged 
upon Sparta, had been furnished by Pharnabazus with a fleet of 
eighty sail, and had induced Rhodes to revolt. In the following 394 B -c 
summer, he met and defeated the Spartan fleet off Cnidus. The 
Greek cities at once expelled the Spartan garrisons and acknowl- 
edged the overlordship of Persia. The maritime power of Sparta 
was destroyed, and the unstable foundations of her empire under- 
mined. 

4. Spartan Aggression. Death of Lysander. — At the same 
time Sparta was suffering serious checks nearer home. While 



246 



SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 



Agesilaus was meditating wonderful schemes against Persia, war 
had broken out in Greece between Sparta and her allies. After 
the battle of the Goat's River, Sparta had kept for herself all the 
fruits of victory. She further exhibited her despotic temper by 
her proceedings within the Peloponnesus. Elis had given her 
ground of offense. King Agis invaded and ravaged the country, 
and imposed severe conditions on the Eleans. The Spartans in- 




Longitude East, 23° from Greenwich 



ENGRAVING. CO.', N.Y.; 



Campaigns in Bceotia 



dulged another grudge by expelling from Naupactus and Cephal- 
lenia the residue of the Messenians, who had settled in those 
places. In Bceotia, also, Sparta found a pretext for aggression, 
and a double attack by both Lysander and Pausanias was 
planned. 

Thus threatened, Thebes turned for aid to her old enemy. 
Athens had been steadily recovering a measure of her prosperity, 
and men of all parties alike voted to seize the opportunitv for at- 
tempting to break free from Spartan rule. Conon was sailing the 



"THE CORINTHIAN WAR" 247 

southeastern seas, Rhodes had revolted, — the moment must not 
be lost. So alliance was concluded. 

Lysander and Pausanias had arranged to meet near Haliartus. 
Lysander arrived first and attacked the town. From their battle- 
ments the men of Haliartus could descry a band of Thebans com- 
ing along the road from Thebes, some time before the danger was 
visible to their assailants; and they suddenly sallied forth from 
the gates. Taken by surprise and attacked on both sides, Ly- 
sander's men were driven back, and Lysander was slain. His 395 B - c - 
death was a loss to Sparta, but no loss to Greece. 

Pausanias soon arrived, and his first object was to recover the 
corpse of his dead colleague; but an Athenian army came up at 
the same moment to the assistance of the Thebans, under the 
leadership of Thrasybulus, and a burial truce was granted only 
on condition that the Peloponnesian army should leave Bceotia. 
Pausanias spent the rest of his life as an exile at Tegea. 

5. "The Corinthian War."— The result of this double blow 
to the Spartans was the conclusion of a league, fomented by 
Persia, against her by the four most important states. Thebes 
and Athens were now joined by Corinth and Argos. This alliance 
was soon increased by the adhesion of other minor states. The 
allies, when spring came, gathered together their forces at the 
Isthmus, and it was proposed by one bold Corinthian to march 
straight on Sparta, and "burn out the wasps in their nest." 
Though the Spartans, by a victory near Corinth, were able to check 394 B -c 
this proposed invasion, the control of the Isthmus was left in the 
hands of the confederates, who were now free to resist an attack 
from the north. 

For Agesilaus was now bearing down upon Bceotia. After the 
battle of Haliartus, he was recalled by the ephors and forced to give 
up his plan of Persian conquest. Marching overland through 
Thrace and Macedonia, he came upon the confederate army at 
Coronea. On the field where the Boeotians had thrown off Athe- 
nian rule half a century before, Athenians and Boeotians now joined 



248 SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 

to throw off the domination of Lacedaemon. A hotly contested 
battle was fought; and although the Spartans were technically 

394 b.c. victorious, the real fruits of the victory were with the confederates, 

for Agesilaus was forced to evacuate Bceotia. 

For the next years the war centered around Corinth. Sparta was 
fighting for dominion beyond the Isthmus, her enemies to keep her 
within the Peloponnesus. In this the confederates were aided by 
Pharnabazus, who had not forgiven the Spartans for the injuries 
inflicted by Agesilaus. He accompanied the fleet of Conon and 

393 b.c. ravaged the Spartan territory; and after his return, allowed Conon 

to rebuild the Long Walls of Athens and to fortify the Piraeus. This 
completely undid the chief result of the Peloponnesian War. The 
two long, parallel walls connecting Athens with the Piraeus were 
rebuilt; the port was again made defensible; and the Athenians 
could feel that they were a free people once more. 

The war dragged on; the Spartans were continually attempting 
to gain command of the Isthmus. That the confederates were able 
to check the Lacedaemonians was largely due to the genius of the 
Athenian Iphicrates, who with his light-armed mercenaries was 
able to harry and wear out the heavy-armed hoplites. Thus the 
most that the Spartans could do was to keep open the gates of the 
Isthmus. 

6. The King's Peace. — We must now turn from the Isthmus 
of Corinth to the eastern coasts of the yEgean. The most important 
event of these years was the recovery of Athenian dominion on the 
Propontis. Thrasybulus, the restorer of the democracy, gained 

389 b.c over to the Athenian alliance the islands of Lesbos, Thasos, and 

Samothrace, the Chersonesus, and the two cities which com- 
manded the Bosphorus, Byzantium and Chalcedon. But to act 
with effect it was necessary to raise money, and the Athenian fleet 
coasted round Asia Minor, levying contributions. At Aspendus in 
Pamphylia, a riot broke out and Thrasybulus was slain. Conon, 
the other of the two men to whom, since Pericles, Athens had 
owed most, was also lost to her. Sent as an envoy to Tiribazus, 

388 b.c he was detained, and died in Cyprus. 



HIGH-HANDED POLICY OF SPARTA 249 

To counterbalance the advantage which Athens was gaining in 
the contest, Sparta now leagued herself with the foes of liberty. 
She obtained a reenforcement of twenty triremes from Dionysius, 
tyrant of Syracuse, and she sent the diplomatist Antalcidas..to make 
proposals at the court of Susa. Antalcidas was able to persuade 
Artaxerxes to enforce a peace upon Hellas, which obliged Athens 
to give up what Thrasybulus had won back. The representatives 
of the belligerents were summoned to Sardis, and Tiribazus read 
aloud the edict of his master, showing them the royal seal. It 
was to this effect : — 

" King Artaxerxes thinks it just that the cities in Asia, and the 
islands of Clazomenae and Cyprus, shall belong to him. Further, 
that all the other Greek cities, small and great, shall be autono- 
mous; except Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyrus, which shall belong to 
Athens, as aforetime. If any refuse to accept this peace, I shall 
make war on them, along with those who are of the same pur- 
pose, both by land and sea, with both ships and money." 

The King's peace was inscribed on stone tablets, which were set 387-386 b.c. 
up in the chief sanctuaries of the Greek states. There was a 
feeling among many that Greece had 
suffered a humiliation in having to sub- 
mit to the arbitration of Persia. Both 
Spartans and Athenians had alike used 
Persian help when they could get it, but 

never before had the domestic conflicts daric (Fourth Cen- 
of Hellas been settled by barbarian die- tury). Obverse: 

tation and under a barbarian sanction. Kneeling King with 

. Bow and Spear. Re- 

It was Sparta s doing. She constituted verse : Incuse 

herself the minister of the Great King's 

will in order to save her own position; and the Greeks of Asia 

were left to endure oriental methods of government. 

7. High-handed Policy of Sparta. — Sparta, having the Isth- 
mus open to her, and being allied to Persia, was free to exercise 
her power tyrannically, and she did so in various quarters of Greece. 




250 



SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 



382 B.C. 





In the north, a Chalcidian league had been formed about the 
town of Olynthus, comprising the towns of the Sithonian promon- 
385 b.c. tory. The Olynthians now conceived the idea of a confederacy 

which should embrace the whole Chalcidic peninsula and its 
neighborhood. They proceeded to coerce those cities which re- 
fused to join, and Acanthus and Apollonia, who stood out, sent for 
help to Sparta. 

The expedition against the Chalcidian confederacy led unex- 
pectedly to an important incident elsewhere. Phcebidas had been 

ordered to march 
through Bceotia with 
troops for Macedo- 
nia; and a party in 
Thebes favorable to 
Sparta plotted a rev- 
olution. The plot 
succeeded perfectly; 
the Cadmea — the 
citadel of Thebes — 
was occupied without striking a blow; and a government friendly 
to Sparta was established. 

With the fortress of Thebes in her hands, Sparta might regard her 
supremacy as secured. But her immediate attention was fixed 
on the necessity of repressing the dangerous league in the north of 
Greece, and continuing the measures which had been interrupted 
by the enterprise of Phcebidas in Bceotia. Teleutias, sent to con- 
duct the war, was defeated and slain in front of the walls of Olyn- 
379 b.c thus. Another general, Polybiadas, was more successful. He 

forced the Olynthians to sue for peace and dissolve their league. 
About the same time, the Lacedaemonians were making their 
heavy hand felt in the Peloponnesus. They ordered Mantinea to 
pull down her walls; when the citizens refused, Sparta besieged 
and took the city, and broke it up into five villages, destroying its 
corporate civic life. At Phlius they ordered the recall of certain 



Coin of Chalcidice. Obverse: Head of 
Laureate Apollo. Reverse: Lyre Bound 
with Fillet [Legend: xaakiaeon] 



ALLIANCE OF ATHENS AND THEBES 25 I 

exiles and, when disputes arose, declared war on Phlius, and forced 
it to receive a Spartan garrison till an oligarchic council, nominated 
by Agesilaus, should have framed a new constitution. 

Thus the Lacedaemonians, in alliance with the tyrant Dionysius 
and the barbarian Artaxerxes, tyrannized over the Greeks for a 
space. Even Xenophon, the friend of Sparta's king, the admirer 
of Sparta's institutions, is roused to regretful indignation at Sparta's 
conduct, and recognizes her fall at the hand of Thebes as a just 
retribution. 

8. Alliance of Athens and Thebes. — The government of Leon- 
tiadas and his party at Thebes, maintained by fifteen hundred 
Lacedaemonians in the citadel, was despotic and cruel. Fear made 
the rulers suspicious and oppressive; for they were afraid of the 
large number of exiles, who had found a refuge at Athens. That 
city was now showing the same good-will to the fugitives from 
Thebes which Thebes, when Athens was in a like plight, had 
shown to Thrasybulus and his fellows. One of the exiles, named 
Pelopidas, resolved to take his life in his hands, and found six 
other associates. There were many in Thebes who were bitter 
foes of the ruling party, such as Epaminondas, the beloved friend 
of Pelopidas, but most of them deemed the time unripe. Yet a 
few were found ready to run the risk ; above all, Phyllidas, who 
was the secretary of the polemarchs, and therefore the most useful 
of confederates. The day was fixed for the enterprise. On the 
evening before, Pelopidas and his six comrades crossed Mount 
Cithaeron in the guise of huntsmen, mixed with the peasants who 
were returning from the fields, and got them safely within the gates. 
The secretary Phyllidas had made ready a great banquet for the Winter, 379- 
following night, to which he had bidden the polemarchs, tempting 37 8 BC - 
them by the promise of introducing them to some high-born and 
beautiful women. During the carouse, a messenger came with a 
letter for Archias, and said that it concerned serious affairs. "Busi- 
ness to-morrow," said Archias, placing it under his pillow. On the 
morrow it was found that this letter disclosed the conspiracy. 



252 SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 

The polemarchs then called for the women, who were waiting in 
an adjoining room. Phyllidas said that they declined to appear till 
all the attendants were dismissed. When no one remained in 
the dining hall but the polemarchs and a few friends, all flushed 
with wine, the women entered and sat down beside the lords. 
They were covered with long veils ; and even as they were bidden 
lift them and reveal their charms, they buried daggers in the bodies 
of the polemarchs. For they were none other than Pelopidas and 
his fellows in the guise of women. Then they went and slew in 
their houses the two other chief leaders of the oligarchs, and set 
free the political prisoners. When all this was done, Epaminon- 
das and the other patriots, who were unwilling to initiate such deeds 
themselves, accepted the revolution with joy. When day dawned, 
an assembly of the people was held in the Agora, and the conspira- 
tors were crowned with wreaths. Three of them, including Pelopi- 
das, were appointed polemarchs, and a democratic constitution was 
established. 

The rest of the exiles and a body of Athenian volunteers presently 
arrived, on the news of the success. The Spartan commander of 
the Cadmea had sent hastily for reinforcements, but those that 
came were repelled. Then, in the first flush of success, the patriots 
resolved to storm the Cadmea, strong as the place was. But the 
Lacedaemonian harmosts decided to capitulate at once. Two of 
these commanders were put to death on their return to Sparta, 
and the third was banished. King Cleombrotus was immediately 
sent with an army to Bceotia, but accomplished nothing. 

The presence of his army, however, backed the demand for repa- 
ration from Athens. Athens and Sparta were formally at peace. 
But two Athenian strategi had accompanied the volunteers to 
Thebes, regardless of their official position. They were sentenced, 
one to death, the other to banishment, and justly. But Sparta 
did not show the same spirit in a similar case. Sphodrias, the 
harmost of Thespiae, conceived the plan of seizing Piraeus, as 
Phcebidas had seized Thebes. He marched into Attica with a 



THEBAN REFORMS. EPAMINONDAS 253 

force, but the raid was so ill-planned that daylight found him only- 
halfway, and he retreated, plundering as he went. Athens was 
furious, but Sparta disowned the raid and promised to punish 
Sphodrias. But Agesilaus intervened to save him, and, as a con- 
sequence, Athens allied herself with Thebes and declared war on 378 b.c. 
Sparta. 

9. Theban Reforms. Epaminondas. — At Thebes the attention 
of the government was chiefly bestowed on military affairs. There 
was formed a new troop of three hundred hoplites, all chosen young 
men of the noblest families. Each man had his best friend beside 
him; so that the Sacred Band, as it was called, consisted of one 
hundred and fifty pairs of friends, prepared to fight and fall to- 
gether. In battle, it was to stand in front of the other hoplites. 
Opportunely for Thebes there had arisen, to guide her to success 
when her chance came, a man of rare ability. This was Epami- 
nondas, the friend of Pelopidas, a modest, unambitious man. 
But the revolution stimulated his patriotism and lured him into 
the field of public affairs, where his eminent capacity, gradually 
revealing itself, made him, before eight years had passed, the most 
influential man in his city. He had devoted as much time to 
musical as to gymnastic training; and he had a genuine interest 
in philosophical speculation. Silent by habit, when the need 
demanded his eloquence was extremely impressive. Exceptional 
in his indifference to the prizes of ambition, he was also exceptional 
in his indifference to money, and he died poor. Not less remark- 
able was his lack of that party spirit which led to so many crimes 
in Greece. We have already seen that his repugnance to domestic 
bloodshed kept him from taking a part in the fortunate conspiracy 
of Pelopidas, 

10. The Second Athenian League. — Ever since the battle of 
Cnidus, Athens had been gradually forming bonds of alliance in 
Thrace, the /Egean, and the coasts of Asia Minor. The breach with 
Sparta induced her now to gather together these separate connec- 
tions into a common league. The league, which was purely de- 



254 SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 

fensive, was constituted in two parts — Athens on one side, her 
allies on the other. The allies had their own synedrion or congress, 
which met in Athens, but in which Athens had no part. It was 
necessary for the members of the league to form a federal fund; 
their payments were called syntaxeis ("contributions"), and the 
word phoros (" tribute"), which had odious memories connected 
with the Confederacy of Delos, was avoided. But the adminis- 
tration of the federal fund and the leadership of the federal army 
were in the hands of Athens. Good fortune has preserved to us 
the original stone, shattered in about twenty pieces, with the decree 
which founded the confederacy, and we find the purpose of the 
league definitely declared: "To force the Lacedaemonians to allow 
the Greeks to enjoy peace in freedom and independence, with their 
lands un violated." The chief cities which first joined the new 
league were Chios, Byzantium, Mytilene, Methymna, and Rhodes; 
then most of the towns of Eubcea joined, and, what was most im- 
portant and wonderful, Thebes enrolled her name in the list of the 
confederates, who amounted to about seventy in all. 

1 1 . The Battle of Naxos and the Peace of Callias. — Within four 
years the Boeotian confederacy was extended over all Boeotia, except 
Chaeronea and Orchomenus, the harmosts being expelled. More- 
over, Pelopidas and the Sacred Band routed in a narrow pass at 
Tegyra, between Orchomenus and Locris, a force of Lacedaemonian 
troops double their own number, and slew both the Spartan gener- 
als. This victory over Spartans had, as always, a great moral effect. 

In the meantime, Sparta had been defeated by sea. A fleet of 
sixty galleys, under the Spartan Pollis, hindered the corn ships 
from bringing grain from the Euxine to Piraeus, and threatened 
Athens with famine. Eighty triremes, under Chabrias, were de- 
spatched by the Athenians to regain command of the sea, and 
to reduce Naxos, which had revolted from the league. Pollis, 
coming to the rescue, was defeated in the sound between 
Paros and Naxos, and lost all but eleven ships. Even these 
would have been disabled, had not Chabrias, remembering 



BATTLE OF NAXOS AND PEACE OF CALLIAS 255 

Arginusae, abandoned the action to pick up men in danger of 
drowning. 

Next year the fleet was sent to sail round the Peloponnesus, un- 
der Timotheus, son of Conon — an assertion of naval supremacy. 
Timotheus won over to the alliance the Molossi, some of the Acar- 
nanians, Cephallenia, and, above all, Corcyra. Negotiations for 
a peace with Sparta were then concluded, but the peace was at 
once broken, and Sparta immediately attempted, in vain, to 
recover Corcyra. 

The discouragement of Sparta was increased by a series of 
earthquakes, and she was anxious for peace. Athens, too, was 
feeling the war a burden, and growing jealous of Thebes. Thebes 
had attacked the Phocians, allies of Athens; and, because the 
recently restored town of Plataea was scheming to be annexed to 
Attica, a Theban force surprised it, and drove all the Platacans 
out. Many of them took refuge at Athens. After this Athens 
took steps for peace, and sent to the congress of Lacedaemonian 
allies three envoys, of whom the chief were Callistratus and Callias. 
Thebes also sent ambassadors, one of whom was Epaminondas. 
A general peace, called the Peace of Callias, was concluded, which 
recognized the autonomy of every Hellenic city. The Athenian 
and Lacedaemonian confederacies were thus rendered invalid. 
No compulsion could be exercised on any city to fulfill engagements 
as members of a league, though cities might cooperate freely as 
far as they chose. 

The question immediately arose whether the Boeotian league 
was condemned by this doctrine of universal autonomy. Sparta 
and Athens, of course, intended to condemn it. But it might be 
contended that Bceotia was a geographical unity, like Attica and 
Laconia, and had a title to political unity, too. Her representative 
was Epaminondas, and when Agesilaus asked him curtly: "Will 
you leave each of the Boeotian towns independent?" he retorted: 
"Will you leave each of the Laconian towns independent?" 
The name of Thebes was thereupon struck out of the treaty. 



256 SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 

So far as Athens and Sparta were concerned, this bargain 
— which is often called the "Peace of Callias" — put an end to a 
war which was contrary to the best interests of both. But, al- 
though Athens was financially exhausted, the war had made her 
once more Sparta's equal. Sparta had lost as much as Athens had 
gained; the defeat of Naxos, the defeat of Tegyra, the failure at 
Corcyra, had dimmed her prestige. After the King's Peace, she 
had begun her second attempt to dominate Greece ; her failure is 
confessed by the Peace of Callias. 

12. Literature and Art. — Pericles, in a famous speech, declared 
that Athens was the school of Greece ; yet it was hardly till after 
Athens lost her empire that she began decisively to influence Greek 
thought. This influence was due largely to the actual schools of 
Isocrates and Plato, which attracted men from all quarters to 
Athens ; but also to a change in Athens herself. The city became 
Hellenic, and almost cosmopolitan, rather than Athenian, as her 
literature shows. Freedom, combined with the Attic genius, had 
led to philosophic speculation, and the result had been the growth 
of what is called "individualism." By this is meant that the in- 
dividual citizen no longer looks at the outside world through the 
medium of his own city. He is a citizen of the world, not a citi- 
zen of Athens. He refuses to hold certain beliefs or perform cer- 
tain acts of worship merely because the state into which he is born 
enjoins this religion. And, since his own life has thus become for 
him something independent of the city, his duty to his country 
may conflict with his duty to himself as a man. Patriotism ceases 
to be the highest virtue. Again, the question arises whether the 
state is made for the individual or the individual for the state. 
When that question is put, greater demands are made by the citi- 
zen for his private welfare. A soldier, for example, will seek service 
where it is most profitable; as Conon, Xenophon, Iphicrates, and 
others took the pay of foreign powers. 

(1) Socrates. — Socrates was the first to insist that a man must 
order his life by the guidance of his own intellect, without any 



LITERATURE AND ART 



257 



regard for mandates of external authority or for the impulses of 
emotion, unless his intellect approves. Socrates was thus a rebel 
against authority as such; and he shrank from no consequences. 
He did not hesitate to show his companions that an old man has 
no title to respect because he is old, unless he is also wise; or that 




Portrait Head of Socrates 



an ignorant parent has no claim to obedience on the mere account 
of the parental relation. Knowledge and truth were the only 
masters which he admitted. 

But what is knowledge and what is truth? The solution of 
Socrates is, briefly, this. When we make a judgment, we com- 



258 SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 

pare two ideas ; and in order to do so correctly, it is obvious that 
these ideas must be clear and distinct. Definition was thus the 
essential point in the Socratic method for arriving at truth. 

The application of this method to ethics was the chief occupation 
of Socrates. He was the founder of utilitarianism. He arrived 
at this doctrine by analyzing the notion of "good " ; the result of his 
analysis was that "the good is the useful." Closely connected was 
the principle that virtue is happiness, and this was the basis of the 
famous Socratic paradox that no man willingly does wrong, but 
only through ignorance, for there is no man who would not will 
his own happiness. 

The sacred name of democracy was not more sheltered than any- 
thing else from the criticism of Socrates. He railed, for instance, 
at the system of choosing magistrates by lot, one of the protections 
of democracy at Athens. Honest democrats of the type of Thra- 
sybulus and Anytus regarded him as a dangerous freethinker. 
They might point to the ablest of the young men who had kept 
company with him, and say: "Look at Alcibiades, his favorite 
companion, who has done more than any other man to ruin his 
country. Look at Critias, who inaugurated the reign of terror." 
However unjust any particular instance might seem, it is easy to 
understand how considerations of this kind would lead many 
practical, unspeculative men to look upon Socrates and his ways 
with little favor. And from their point of view, they were perfectly 
right. His spirit, and the ideas that he made current, were an 
insidious menace to the cohesion of the social fabric, in which there 
was not a stone or a joint that he did not question. In other words, 
he was the active apostle of individualism, which led in its further 
development to the subversion of that local patriotism which had 
inspired the cities of Greece in her days of greatness. 

Socrates died five years after the fall of the Athenian empire, 
and the manner of his death set a seal upon his life. Anytus, the 
honest democratic politician who had been prominent in the res- 
toration of the democracy, came forward, with some others, as a 



LITERATURE AND ART 259 

champion of the state religion, and accused Socrates of impiety. 
The accusation ran: "Socrates is guilty of crime, because he does 
not believe in the gods recognized by the city, but introduces strange 
supernatural beings; he is also guilty, because he corrupts the 
youth." The penalty proposed was death; but the accusers had 
no desire to inflict it; they expected that, when the charge was 
lodged in the archon's office, Socrates would leave Attica. But 
Socrates surprised the city by remaining to answer the charge. 
The trial was heard in a court of five hundred and one judges, 
the king-archon presiding, and the old philosopher was found 
guilty by a majority of sixty. According to the practice of Athenian 
law, it was open to a defendant, when he was condemned, to pro- 
pose a lighter punishment than that fixed by the accuser, and the 
judges were required to choose one of the two sentences. Socrates 
might have saved his life if he had proposed an adequate penalty, 
but he offered only a small fine, and was consequently condemned, 
by a much larger majority, to death. He drank the cup of doom 
a month later, discoursing with his disciples as eagerly as ever till 
his last hour. 

(2) Isocrates. — In this period — during the fifty years after 
the battle of iEgospotami — the art of writing prose was brought 
to perfection at Athens. It is to the democratic Athenian law- 
courts that this development was mainly due. The most illus- 
trious instructor in oratory at this period was Isocrates. But the 
school of Isocrates had a far wider scope and higher aim than to 
teach the construction of sentences or the arrangement of topics 
in a speech. It was a general school of culture, — a discipline in- 
tended to fit men for public life. Questions of political science were 
studied, and Isocrates liked to describe his course of studies as 
" philosophy." But it was to Plato's school in the Academy that 
the youths of the day went to study " philosophy " in the stricter 
sense. The discipline of these two rival schools — for there was 
rivalry between them, though their aims were different — was what 
corresponded at Athens to our university education. Isocrates 



260 



SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 



discharged, also, the functions of a journalist of the best kind. 
Naturally nervous and endowed with a poor voice, he did not speak 
in the Assembly; but when any great question moved him, he 
would issue a pamphlet, in the form of a speech, for the purpose of 
influencing public opinion. 




Portrait Head of Isoc rates 



(3) Praxiteles. — The form and features of an age are wont to 
be mirrored in its art; and one effective means of winning a con- 
crete notion of the spirit of the fourth century is to study the 
works of Praxiteles and compare them with the sculptures which 
issued from the workshop of Pheidias. In the fifth century, apart 
from a few colossal statues like those which Pheidias wrought for 
Athens and Olympia, the finest works of the sculptor's chisel went 
to decorate frieze or pediment. In the fourth century, the sculptor 



ATHENS UNDER THE RESTORED DEMOCRACY 26 1 

developed his art more independently of architecture, and all the 
great works of Praxiteles were complete in themselves and inde- 
pendent. And, as sculpture was emancipating itself from the old 
subordination to architecture, so it also emancipated itself from the 
religious ideal. In the age of Pheidias, the artist who fashioned a 
god sought to express in human shape the majesty and immutabil- 
ity of a divine being. In the fourth century, the deities lose their 
majesty and changelessness ; they are conceived as physically 
perfect men and women, with human feelings, though without hu- 
man sorrows ; they are invested with human personalities. Thus, 
sculpture is marked by " individualism" in a double sense. Each 
artist is freer to work out an individual path of his own; and the 
tendency of all artists is to portray the individual man or woman 
rather than the type, and even the individual phase of emotion 
rather than the entire character. 

13. Athens under the Restored Democracy. — The general 
spirit of the Athenians in their political life corresponds to this 
change. Men came more and more to regard the state as a means 
for administering to the needs of the individual. We might al- 
most say that they conceived it as a cooperative society for making 
profits to be divided among the members. They were consequently 
more disinclined to enter upon foreign undertakings which were 
not either necessary for the protection and promotion of their 
commerce or likely to fill their purses. The fourth century was, 
therefore, for Athens, an age of less ambition and glory, but of 
greater happiness and freedom, than the fifth. 

For while Athens lost her empire, she did not lose her com- 
merce. The population of Attica had declined; plague and war 
reduced the number of adult male citizens from at least 35,000 to 
21,000. But that was not unfortunate, for there were no longer 
outsettlements to receive the surplus of the population. In the 
same period began the system of paying citizens to attend the 
Assembly. The pay, fixed first at a half a drachma, was raised 
to a drachma and a half for the regular sessions. The rise 



262 SPARTAN SUPREMACY AND PERSIAN WAR 

shows the increase in prices and general prosperity. Another 
notable feature was the distribution of "spectacle-money." The 
practice of giving the poor Athenian the price of his theater ticket 
had been introduced earlier, perhaps by Pericles. But in the 
fourth century, distributions of "theoric" money, to be spent on 
religious pageants, became frequent and large. This theoric fund 
absorbed the state's surplus revenue, and became so important 
that a special minister of finance was named to manage it. 
Heavier taxation was thus occasioned, and the comfort of 
the poorer burghers was provided for at the expense of the 
wealthier. The theoric fund was an outward embodiment of 
the principle that the purpose of the state is the comfort and 
pleasure of its individual members. 

To conduct her affairs on these lines, Athens needed men of 
ability. There was no scope for men of genius. None of her 
statesmen of this period made a mark in history. The art of war 
became every year more and more an art, and little could be ac- 
complished except by generals who devoted their life to the military 
profession. Such were Timotheus, Chabrias, and above all Iphic- 
rates. Timotheus was a rich man, and he could afford to serve 
his country, and his country only. But Chabrias and Iphicrates 
enriched themselves by taking temporary service under foreign 
masters ; Iphicrates even went so far as to support the Thracian 
king, whose daughter he had wedded, against Athens. The attitude 
of the generals to the city became much more independent when 
the citizens themselves ceased to serve abroad regularly, and hired 
mercenaries instead. The hiring of the troops and their organiza- 
tion devolved upon the general, and he was often expected to 
provide the means for paying them, too. Here we touch on a 
vice in the constitutional machine. No systematic provision was 
made that, when the people voted that a certain thing should be 
done, the adequate moneys should be voted at the same time. Any 
one might propose a decree, without responsibility for its execu- 
tion; and at the next meeting of the Assembly the people might 






REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 263 

refuse to allow the necessary supplies. In the same way, supplies 
might be cut off in the middle of a campaign. This defect had not 
made itself seriously felt in the fifth century, when the leading 
generals were always statesmen, too, with influence in the Assembly; 
but it became serious when the generals were professional soldiers 
whom the statesmen employed. During the ten years after the 
Peace of Callias, Athens was actively engaged in a multitude of 
enterprises of foreign aggrandizement; but she achieved little, 
and the reason is that her armaments were hardly ever adequate. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 88) 

An excellent brief summary of this chapter is to be found in West, 197-206. 

1. Supremacy of Sparta. 

Botsford, 256-261. Bury, 514-517. 

2. War with Persia. 

Botsford, 261-263. Bury, 517-539. Holm, III, 1-14. 
Sources. Xenophon, Anabasis, I, chs. 8-9 (Battle of Cunaxa) ; IV, 
ch. 5 (Sufferings of the Greeks). Plutarch, Agesilaus, Lysander. 

3. Policy of Sparta in Greece. 

(1) " Corinthian War." 

Botsford, 263-266. Bury, 539-554. Holm, III, 35-46, 51-60. 

(2) High-handed Policy of Sparta. 
Holm, III, 63-70. Bury, 555-561. 

(3) Revival of Athens. 

Bury, 561-574. Holm, III, 84-91. 

4. Literature and Art. 

(1) Socrates. Jebb, 124-128. Holm, III, 27-30. Curtius, IV, 148- 
164. 

Source. Plato, Apology. (Jowett's translation.) 

(2) Praxiteles. Holm, III, 170-171. Tarbell, Greek Art, 214-230. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE HEGEMONY OF THEBES 

i. Jason of Pherae and the Battle of Leuctra. — The balance 
of power in Greece had been swayed for a hundred years by the 
two rivals, Sparta and Athens. But now" new forces had arisen 
in the north, and two cities had come into dangerous prominence 
- — Thebes and Pherae. - 

The Thessalian cities, which were usually in a state of feud, had 
been united, and Thessaly had consequently become one of the 
great powers of Greece. This was the doing of one man. There 
had arisen at Pherae a despot whose ambition ranged beyond the 
domestic politics of Thessaly. Jason had established his dominion 
by means of a well-trained body of six thousand mercenaries, and 
also, doubtless, by able diplomacy, and finally had become leader 
of an united Thessaly. The power of the despot extended on one 
side into Epirus, on the other to Macedonia. 

Sparta was still regarded as holding the highest position in 
Greece ; and it was the first object of Jason to weaken her and de- 
throne her from that place. His second immediate object was to 
gain control of the key of southern Greece — the pass of Ther- 
mopylae ; and as this was commanded by the Spartan fortress of 
Heraclea, these two objects were intimately connected. His 
obvious policy was to ally himself with Sparta's enemy, Thebes; 
and Thebes, in her isolated position, leapt at his alliance. Ac- 
cording to the terms of the Peace of Callias, all parties were to 
recall their armaments from foreign countries and their garrisons 
from foreign towns. Athens promptly recalled Iphicrates from 

264 



JASON OF PHER.E. BATTLE OF LEUCTRA 



265 



Corcyra, but Sparta, on her side, failed to fulfill the contract. King 
Cleombrotus had, shortly before, led an army to Phocis, and now, 
instead of disbanding it, he was ordered to march against Thebes 
and compel that state to set free the Boeotian cities. 

Cleombrotus, marching on Thebes itself, found the Theban army 
in position on the height of Leuctra. The numbers of the two hosts 
are uncertain; the Lace- 



daemonians, in any case 
considerably superior, may 
have been about eleven, 
the Thebans about six, 
thousand strong. But the 
military genius of Epami- 
nondas made up for the 
deficiency in strength. In- 
stead of drawing out the 
usual long and shallow 
line, he made his left wing 
deep. This wedge, fifty 
shields deep, of irresistible 
weight, with the Sacred 
Band, under the captaincy 
of Pelopidas, in front, was 
opposed to the Spartans, 

who, with Cleombrotus himself, were drawn up on the right 
of the hostile army. It was on his left wing that Epami- 
nondas relied for victory; the shock between the Spartans and 
Thebans would decide the battle. 

The battle began with an engagement of the cavalry. In this 
arm the Lacedaemonians were notoriously weak; and now their 
horsemen, easily driven back, carried disorder into the line of 
foot. Cleombrotus, who was confident of victory, then led his 
right wing down the slopes — the center and left being probably 
impeded in their advance by the cavalry; and on his side Epami- 




The Battle of Leuctra 



266 THE HEGEMONY OF THEBES 

nondas with the Theban left moved down from their hill, deliber- 
ately keeping back the rest of the line. The novel tactics of Epami- 
nondas decided the battle. The Spartans, twelve deep, though 
they fought ever so bravely, could not resist the impact of the 
Theban wedge led by Pelopidas. King Cleombrotus fell, and 
after a great carnage on both sides the Thebans drove their enemies 
up the slopes back to their camp. 

A thousand Lacedaemonians had fallen, including four hundred 
Spartans ; and the survivors acknowledged their defeat by demand- 
ing the customary truce to take up the dead. But the army 
remained in its intrenchments on the hill of Leuctra, in the 
expectation of being reenforced by a new army from Sparta and 
retrieving the misfortune. The remaining forces of the city were 
hastily got together, and placed under the command of Archida- 
mus, son of Agesilaus. 

Meanwhile, Thebes had sent the news to Thessaly. On receiv- 
ing it, Jason marched forthwith to the scene of action, at the head 
of his cavalry and mercenaries, flying so rapidly through Phocis 
that the Phocians, his irreconcilable enemies, did not realize his 
presence until he had passed. He could not have reached Leuctra 
until the sixth or seventh day after the battle. The Thebans 
thought that with the help of his forces they might storm the 
Lacedaemonian intrenchments. But for the policy of Jason the 
annihilation of the enemy or any further enhancement of the The- 
ban success would have been too much. He dissuaded the The- 
bans from the enterprise, and induced them to grant a truce to 
the Lacedaemonians, with leave to retire unharmed. 

Jason returned to Thessaly, dismantling Heraclea on his way. 
He set himself to make preparation for a great display of his power 
at the next Pythian festival, when he proposed to usurp the rights 
of the Amphictionic board, and preside at the games. But one 
day as he sat to hear petitions, seven young men approached wran- 
gling, as if to submit their dispute, and stabbed him where he sat. 
His brothers, who succeeded, were men of no ability. The death 



POLICY OF THEBES IN SOUTHERN GREECE 267 

of Jason decided that Bceotia, not Thessaly, should succeed to the 
supremacy of Sparta. 

2. Policy of Thebes in Southern Greece, Arcadia, and Messenia. 

— The defeat of a Lacedaemonian army in the open field by an 
enemy inferior in numbers was made more impressive by the death 
of King Cleombrotus; a Spartan king had never fallen in battle 
since Leonidas. The news agitated every state in the Peloponne- 
sus. The harmosts, whom Sparta had undertaken to withdraw 
three weeks before, when she signed the Peace, were now expelled 
from the cities; there was a universal reaction against the local 
oligarchies. But it was in Arcadia that the most weighty political 
results followed. The fall of Sparta was the signal for the Man- 
tineans to rebuild their walls, desert their villages, and resume 
city life. 

Mantinea, arisen from her ruins, and the other towns of Arcadia 

— with the important exceptions of Tegea, Orchomenus, and 
Heraea — now agreed to form a Pan- Arcadian federal state. Since 
none of the Arcadian cities was large enough to be a federal capital, 
and the selection of one would have caused jealousies, it was de- 
cided to build a new city, in the western of Arcadia's two large 
plains, near the sacred mount Lycaeon. Its name, Megalopolis, 370 b.c. 
was justified by the large circuit of its double wall, into which the 
surrounding village communities were induced to migrate. 

To check an attack which Sparta made upon the new confederacy, 
the Arcadians appealed first to Athens and then to Thebes. Thebes, 
thinking a united Arcadia would be the best check upon Sparta, 
sent a force under Epaminondas. When Epaminondas arrived 
at Arcadia, the Spartans had withdrawn, but he was persuaded to 
adopt the daring design of making an attack upon Laconia itself. 

The invaders advanced in four divisions by four roads, converg- 
ing on Sellasia, and met no serious attempt to block their way. 
Sellasia was burnt, and the united army descended into the plain 
on the left bank of the Eurotas. The river, which separated them 
from Sparta, was swollen with winter rains, and this probably 



268 



THE HEGEMONY OF THEBES 



saved the city; for the bridge was too strongly guarded to be 
safely attacked. Epaminondas marched southward a few miles 
farther, as far as Amyclae, where he crossed the stream by a ford. 
But Sparta was now saved. On the first alarm of the coming in- 
vasion, messages had flown to the Peloponnesian cities which were 




BORMAY ENGRAVING CO., N.Y. 



Power of Sparta and Thebes in the Peloponnesus 

still friendly ; and these had promptly sent auxiliary forces. Their 
coming added such strength to the defense of Sparta that Epami- 
nondas did not attack it, but contented himself with marching 
up defiantly to its outskirts. It was, indeed, a sufficient revenge. 
The consternation of the Spartans at a calamity which, owing to 




THE FOUNDATION OF MESSENE 269 

the immunity of ages, they had never even conceived as possible, 
can hardly be imagined. The women, disciplined though they 
were in repressing their feelings when sons or husbands perished 
in battle, now fell into fits of distress and despair; for, unlike the 
women of so many other Greek cities, they had never looked upon 
the face of an enemy before. 

3. The Foundation of Messene. Alliance of Athens and Sparta. 
— Having ravaged southern Laconia, the allies returned to Arcadia. 
But, though it was mid- 
winter, their work was not 
over yet ; a far greater blow 
was still to be inflicted on 
Sparta. Epaminondas led 
them now into another 
part of the Spartan tern- CoiN OF messene. Obverse: Head of 
tory, the ancient Messenia. Demeter, Corn-Crowned. Reverse: 

The serfs, who belonged Zeus with Thunderbolt and Eagle 
, ,,,, . [Legend: mE22anion] 

to the old Messeman race, 

arose at their coming ; and on the slopes of Mount Ithome the 
foundations of a new Messene were laid by Epaminondas. The 370-369 b.c. 
ancient heroes and heroines of the race were invited to return to 
the restored nation ; the ample circuit of the town was marked out, 
and the first stones placed, to the sound of flutes. Ithome was the 
citadel, and formed one side of the town, whose walls of well- 
wrought masonry descended the slopes and met in the plain below. 
The Messenian exiles who had been wandering over the Greek 
world had now a home once more. Thus, not only a new strong- 
hold but a new enemy was erected against Sparta in Sparta's own 
domain. All western Laconia was subtracted from the Spartan • 
dominion; all the periceci and helots became the freemen of a 
hostile state. 

In her distress Sparta had asked aid from Athens. A force was 
sent under Iphicrates, and an alliance was formed. Shortly after 
this, Epaminondas made a second invasion to aid the enemies of 



270 THE HEGEMONY OF THEBES 

Sparta and gained Sicyon and Pellene. He thought it prudent to 
retire, however, when he heard of the arrival of two thousand mer- 
cenaries whom the tyrant of Syracuse had sent to the aid of Sparta. 
The confederation, however, had made itself truly Pan-Arcadian 
by the conquest of all the towns within the borders of Arcadia, and 
had even gained some of the territory belonging to Elis. Against 
these aggressions Sparta was practically helpless; but one action 
in which she succeeded in repulsing the Arcadians with a heavy 
loss while not a Spartan fell, she dignified by the title of the " tear- 
less battle." 

4. Confusion on the Peloponnesus. — Attempts were made at 
the instigation of Persia to bring about a peace, and the Great 
King sent from Susa a royal order settling the disputes in the main 
in the favor of Thebes. But Arcadia would not allow this, and 
formally protested against the leadership of Thebes. In answer 
to this Epaminondas invaded the Peloponnesus for the third time, 
and gained the cities of Achaea for Thebes. An oppressive policy, 
however, was adopted, and the Achaean cities revolted and became 
partisans of Sparta. In the same year Thebes wrested Oropus 
from Athens, and thus forced that city to adopt an even more hostile 
attitude. An alliance was formed between the Arcadian con- 
federacy and Athens against Thebes, and thus the confusion was 
complete. 

5. Policy of Thebes in Northern Greece. — In the north the king 
of Macedonia had forced the cities to recognize his power under 
the pretense of protecting them against the power of Thessaly. 
The cities attempted to revolt and appealed to Thebes, while dis- 
cord in the royal family of Macedonia forced the regent to call on 
Athens for aid. But Thebes, resolved to oust Athenian influence, 
despatched Pelopidas to the north, compelled the regent to enter 
her alliance, and to assure his fidelity by furnishing a number of 
hostages. Among the young Macedonian nobles who were sent 
as pledges to Thebes was the boy Philip, who was destined to be 
the maker of Macedonia. 



WAR BETWEEN ATHENS AND THEBES 27 1 

6. War between Athens and Thebes. — Meanwhile, Athens be- 
gan to act in the eastern JEgean. The opportunity was furnished 
by the revolt of her friend Ariobarzanes, the satrap of Phrygia. 
A fleet of thirty galleys and eight thousand troops was sent under 
her experienced general, Timotheus. He laid siege to Samos, on 
which Persia had laid hands, contrary to the King's Peace, and took 
it at the end of ten months. At the same time he lent assistance to 366 b.c. 
Ariobarzanes ; and as a reward for these services Athens obtained 
the cession of Sestus. Sestus was of special value, from its position 3 6 5 B - c 
on the Hellespont, securing to Athens control at this point over the 
ships which supplied her with corn from the Euxine coasts. But 
more than this, she now regained a foothold in the Thracian 
Chersonese. Thus Athens began to revive her old empire, but in 
Samos she revealed her designs even more clearly. This island was 
not treated as a subject ally, but outsettlers were sent to occupy it, 
and thus the system of cleruchies, which had been the most un- 
popular feature of the first confederacy, and had been expressly 
guarded against at the formation of the second confederacy, was 
renewed. 

Timotheus was likewise successful in the north. He compelled 
Methone and Pydna to join the Athenian confederacy; and in the 
Chalcidic peninsula he made himself master of Potidaea and Torone. 

It was high time for Thebes to interfere. If the successes of 364-362 b.c. 
Timotheus were allowed to continue, Athens would soon recover 
Eubcea, and the adhesion of that island was, from its geographical 
position, of the highest importance to Bceotia. But in order to 
check the advance of her neighbor, it would be necessary for Thebes 
to grapple with her on her own element. By the advice of Epami- 
nondas, it was resolved to create a navy and enter upon the career 
of a sea power. A hundred triremes were built and manned and 3 6 4 B -c 
sent to the Propontis under the Bceotarch, Epaminondas. The 
sailing of this fleet was a blow to Athens, from the support and en- 
couragement which it gave to those members of the confederacy 
which were eager to break their bonds. Byzantium openly re- 



272 THE HEGEMONY OF THEBES 

belled; Rhodes and Chios negotiated with Epaminondas ; and 
even Ceos, close to Attica itself, defied Athens, but was reduced by 
Chabrias. 

Meanwhile, a Theban army had marched against the ally of 
Athens, Alexander of Pherae, whose hand, strengthened by a 
mercenary force, had been heavy against the Thessalians. Once 
more, but for the last time, Pelopidas entered Thessaly at the head 
of an army, and advanced against Pherae itself. Alexander came 
forth to meet him with a large force, and i^ was a matter of great 
importance, for the purpose of barring the Theban advance, to 
occupy the heights known as Cynoscephalae, or the Dog's Heads, 
on the road from Pharsalus to Pherae. The armies reached the 
critical spot nearly at the same time, and there was a rush for the 
crests. Pelopidas, by a combined assault of horse and foot, at 
length won the summit and forced the enemy to give way. But in 
the moment of victory the impetuous general espied the hated 
despot in whose dungeon he had languished, and yielding to a fit 
of passion, he forgot the duties of a general and rushed against 
his enemy. Alexander withdrew into the midst of his guards, 
and Pelopidas, plunging desperately after him, was overwhelmed 
by numbers. The death of Pelopidas was not fatal to his followers, 
who routed the enemy with heavy loss ; but it was a sore blow both 
to his own Thebes and to Thessaly. In the following year, an army 
was sent against Pherae, and avenged his death. Alexander was 
obliged to relinquish all his possessions except his own city and 
submit to the headship of Thebes. 

7. War on the Peloponnesus.' Battle of Olympia. — The 
Arcadian confederacy was threatened with dissolution. Elis, seek- 
ing to recover her territory, allied herself with Sparta. Arcadia, 
in revenge, determined that the next Olympian games should not 
be held under the time-honored presidency of Elis, but revived 
the ancient claim of Pisa. To support this move, they sent a 
force which occupied and fortified the Hill of Cronus above Olym- 
pia, and when the games came round, the whole army of the con- 




BATTLE OF MANTINEA. DEATH OF EPAMINONDAS 273 

federacy, with contingents from Athens and from Argos, arrived 

to protect the celebration. The horse-race had been run, and the 

pentathlon, or contest of five-feats — running, 

wrestling, hurling the javelin, throwing the 

disc, and leaping — was in progress, when the 

men of Elis marched up and attacked. A 

battle ensued and they were driven back, but (t^ff^^f ^ / s64 B,c ' 

all Greece was outraged by the violence done 

at the holy time. Sympathy was on the side 

of Elis from the first, and far more so when CoiN OF Elis (° b * 
..... . . verse). Head of 

the Arcadians began to use the sacred treas- fera ["Legend- 

ures of Olympia to pay their army. ^ a] 

Jealousies were already rife in the federa- 
tion, and Mantinea seized the excuse of this scandal to secede. 
In the league itself there arose a party which favored alliance 
with Sparta rather than to endure to be dependent on Thebes. 
The Boeotians, to maintain their power in the Peloponnesus, sent 
a fourth invading army under Epaminondas. He advanced to 362 b.c. 
Tegea while his enemies were gathering at Mantinea, Tegea's 
rival. 

8. Battle of Mantinea. The Death of Epaminondas. — Agesi- 
laus led his forces to protect Mantinea, thus leaving Sparta open 
to attack. Learning this, Epaminondas determined to strike 
another blow at the now unprotected city and with this in view 
made a night march from Tegea to Sparta. His plans, however, 
were betrayed to Agesilaus, who hurried back to defend his capi- 
tal, and Epaminondas was thwarted a second time. But by this 
movement Agesilaus had left Mantinea unguarded and Epami- 
nondas sent his cavalry to surprise that city. This surprise 
also was foiled by the unexpected appearance of some Athenian 
troops who drove back the Theban force. 

Thus foiled in his two projects of surprise, Epaminondas was 
forced to attack the united enemy at Mantinea. He adopted 
the same tactics by which he had won at Leuctra. On the 

T 



274 THE HEGEMONY OF THEBES 

left he placed the Boeotian hoplites, under his own immediate 
command, i in a deep column, destined to break through the 
right wing of the enemy before the rest of the armies could come 
to blows. All fell out as he designed. His cavalry routed their 
cavalry, and the force of his wedge of hoplites, led by himself, 
broke through the opposing array and put the Lacedaemonians to 
flight. The men of Achaea and Elis and the rest, when they saw 
the flight of the Spartans, wavered before they came into collision 
with their own opponents. 

It was a great Theban victory, and yet a chance determined that 
this victory should be the death-blow to the supremacy of Thebes. 
As he pursued the retreating foe, at the head of his Thebans, 
Epaminondas received a mortal thrust from a spear. When the 
news spread through the field, the pursuit was stayed and the effect 
of the victory was undone; the troops fell back like beaten men. 
There was no one to take his place. In his dying moments, before 
the point of the fatal spear was extracted, Epaminondas asked 
for Iolaidas and Daiphantus, whom he destined as his successors. 
He was told that they were slain. " Then," he said, "make peace 
with the enemy." Peace was made on condition that things should 
remain as they were ; Megalopolis and Messenia were recognized 
— the abiding results of Theban policy. 

Great as were the genius, character, and achievements of Epami- 
nondas, he did not build to last. He did not create what Bceotia 
needed — an efficient machinery for the conduct of foreign affairs. 
He did not seriously grapple with the question whether or no Boeotia 
should attempt to become a maritime power. Above all he did not 
succeed in welding Bceotia into a real national unity. His work 
died with him. Epaminondas was a great general — not a great 
statesman. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 275 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 89) 

1. Rise of Thebes, Leuctra. 

Holm, III, 93-103. Bury, 591-598. Curtius, IV, 410-420. 

2. Policy of Epaminondas in the Peloponnesus. 
Holm, III, 105-115. Bury, 596-612. 

3. End of Theban Leadership ; Mantinea. 

Holm, III, 118-128. Bury, 619-626. Curtius, IV, 503-510. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE SYRACUSAN EMPIRE AND THE STRUGGLE WITH CARTHAGE 

I. Carthaginian Destruction of Selinus and Himera. — The 

victories of Salamis and Himera were practically simultaneous. 
In the west as in the east, Greece repulsed the barbarian. But 
when Persia and Carthage, after long quiescence, saw the greatest 
city of eastern Greece in deadly conflict with the greatest city of 
western Greece, Carthage, like Persia, again encroached upon the 
Greek. 




Coin of Syracuse, engraved by 
Cimon (Obverse). Head of Are- 
thusa [Legend: ape©02a; Sig- 
nature OF KIMI2N ON HEADBAND] 




Coin of Acragas (Obverse). 
Eagle tearing Hare; Shell as 
Symbol of the Seashore [Le- 
gend: AKPArANTINfiN] 



4IO B.C. 



At Syracuse, as at Athens, victory over the invader was followed 
by a democratic movement. Hermocrates, the leading citizen, 
was indeed an oligarch, but during his absence with the fleet sent 
to help Sparta in the ^gean, he was banished on the motion of 
his opponent Diodes. At this juncture a new feud between 
Segesta and Selinus was the pretext for a new invasion. Segesta 
appealed to Carthage, where one of the two shophets or judges was 

276 



RISE OF DIONYSIUS 277 

Hannibal, grandson of the Hamilcar who was slain at Himera. 
At his instance a great expedition was sent against Selinus, which 
was inadequately fortified; the place was sacked and the people 
slaughtered. Hannibal now proceeded to his real purpose, ven- 
geance on Himera. The city had time to prepare, and help came 
from Syracuse under Diocles. But the Carthaginians, by a strata- 
gem, drew off Diocles with his fleet for three days, and the town was 
carried by a desperate assault when the returning ships were 
actually in sight. Hannibal slaughtered three thousand prisoners 
to appease the shade of his grandfather, and utterly demolished 
the town. 

2. Rise of Dionysius. — Carthage, determined to subdue all 
Greek Sicily, made ready another great expedition and attacked 
Acragas, then at the height of its prosperity. The defense was 406 b.c. 
conducted by the Spartan Dexippus, and soon after the beginning 
of the siege the invaders, under Hannibal and Himilco, were de- 
feated outside the walls by a relieving army from Syracuse. The 
Punic army, short of supplies, was threatened with disaster; but 
Hannibal intercepted provision ships coming to the town, and re- 
versed the situation. The mercenary troops deserted the defenders, 
and the citizens abandoned their city by night. Acragas became 
a Carthaginian town. At Syracuse men felt the great jeopardy in 
which Sicily now stood; and there was one man who saw in this 
jeopardy the opportunity of his own ambition, — Dionysius, — ■ 
a man of obscure birth, who had been a clerk in a public office. 
He had marked himself out by his energy and bravery before the 
walls of Acragas. He saw the incompetence of the democratic 
government of his city, and he determined to overthrow it. An 
assembly was held to consider the situation. Dionysius arose, and 
in a violent harangue accused the generals of treachery. The 
generals were deposed, and a new board was appointed, of which 
Dionysius was one. This was only the first step on the road which 
was to lead to the tyrannis. He soon began to discredit his col- 
leagues; and spread reports that they were disloyal to Syracuse. 



278 SYRACUSAN EMPIRE AND STRUGGLE WITH CARTHAGE 

Presently he openly accused them, and the people elected him sole 
general with sovereign powers to meet the instant danger. The 
next step was to procure a bodyguard. The assembly at Syracuse 
would certainly not have granted such an instrument of tyranny. 
But Dionysius ordered the Syracusan army to march to Leontini, 
which was now a Syracusan dependency. He encamped near the 
town, and during the night a rumor was spread about that the 
general's life had been attempted. An assembly was held next 
day, which, when Dionysius laid bare the designs of his enemies, 
voted him a bodyguard of six hundred ; and he had won over the 
mercenaries to his cause. 

3. Tyranny of Dionysius. — These were the three steps in the 
"despot's progress." The democracy, of course, was not formally 
overthrown ; Dionysius held no office that upset the constitution. 
Things went on as at Athens under Pisistratus; the assembly 
met and passed decrees and elected magistrates. 
405 b.c. The justification of the power of Dionysius lay in the need of a 

champion against Carthage. He set out with a great fleet and army 
to relieve Gela, which was already beleaguered. But a plan of 
attack failed, by reason of his half-heartedness, and he ordered the 
people to evacuate the town. On his way back he also ordered 
the abandonment of Camarina. Syracuse in disgust rose against 
him, but he forced his way in. A treaty, probably arranged be- 
forehand, was then concluded with Carthage, confirming Carthage 
in her conquests, but recognizing Dionysius as ruler of Syracuse. 
He thus secured Punic aid to build up the town, which he would one 
day use against Carthage. Under Dionysius Syracuse became the 
leading European power on the Mediterranean. 

His tyranny lasted thirty-eight years, till the end of his life. 
The forms of the constitution were maintained, and he was nomi- 
nally elected ; but his foreign bodyguard was the prop of his power. 
Yet he owed his long success, also, to a wise principle of tyranny. 
He was cruel and oppressive only for political ends, not for per- 
sonal desires. 



PUNIC WARS OF DIONYSIUS 279 

His first concern was to establish himself in a stronghold. He 
made the island a fortress barred off by a wall from the mainland, 
and entered only by passing under five successive gates. The Lesser 
Harbor, which became the chief naval arsenal, was included in 
these fortifications: its mouth was closed by a mole with a gate 
through which only one galiey passed at a time. Further, he 
made friends for himself by rewarding adherents and by enfran- 
chising slaves with confiscations from his opponents. Then he 
proceeded to a career of conquest. The Ionian cities of Naxos 
and Catane were taken by treachery, their inhabitants were sold, 
and Naxos destroyed. Leontini submitted, and its inhabitants 
were transferred to Syracuse. This was an offense to Carthage, 
and Dionysius provided against the struggle by fortifying his city 
on a huge scale. The heights of Epipolae were included in the 
walls, and a great castle was built at the important point of Eurya- 
los, whose ruins still are a monument of Greek Syracuse at the 
height of her power. 

His military preparations were not less notable and original. 
He first thought out and taught how the heterogeneous parts of 
a military armament — the army and the navy, the cavalry and 
the infantry, the heavy and the light troops — might be closely 
and systematically coordinated so as to act as if they were a sin- 
gle organic body. He introduced the catapult, invented by his 
engineers, which revolutionized siege-warfare, and brought a 
new element into military operations. An engine which hurled 
a stone of two or three hundredweight for a distance of two or three 
hundred yards was extremely formidable. 

4. Punic Wars of Dionysius. — When his preparations were 398-397 BC - 
complete, Dionysius went forth to do what no Greek leader in 
Sicily had ever done before. He went forth not merely to deliver 
Greek cities from Phoenician rule, but to conquer Phoenician Sicily 
itself. At the head of eighty thousand foot and three thousand horse, 
he laid siege to Motya. This city was an island town connected 
by a causeway with the land, and the inhabitants broke down the 



28o SYRACUSAN EMPIRE AND STRUGGLE WITH CARTHAGE 

causeway. Dionysius set to building a much greater mole from 
which to work his engines. Towers of six stories high were 
brought up to the walls, and the battle was waged in mid-air. 
The town was defended from street to street, till at last a night 
assault finished the business. 

Carthage now bestirred herself. Himilco gained Eryx by treach- 
ery, and recovered Motya. He then turned upon Messena, and 
razed the place, though the inhabitants escaped into the neigh- 
boring hills. The Syracusan fleet, under the brother of Dionysius, 
came against the Carthaginians, but was routed at Catane; and 
soon Himilco with his victorious fleet sailed into the Great Harbor 
at Syracuse, while the army encamped along the banks of the 
Anapus. But the siege was protracted, and the Carthaginian 
camp, pitched in a swamp in the burning heat, was ravaged by 
pestilence; and suddenly Dionysius made a joint attack on the 
fleet and camp. It was wholly successful : the fleet was destroyed ; 
the forts which protected the camp were taken. The whole ar- 
mament might have been annihilated like that of Athens, had not 
Dionysius accepted three hundred talents from Himilco to connive 
at the escape of all Carthaginian citizens. The tyrant felt that if 
the Carthaginians vanished from Sicily, his autocracy would be 
endangered; and he made no effort to drive them from their old 
station in the western corner of the island. Another Punic War 
broke out five years later, in which Dionysius won possession of 
Solus, the most easterly Carthaginian city. The peace which 
concluded it placed all the Greek cities in Sicily, and also the Sicels, 
under the power of Syracuse. 

5. The Empire of Dionysius. His Death. — Having made him- 
self master of all Greek Sicily, the lord of Syracuse began to plan 
the conquest of Greek Italy. Here, as in other things, Dionysius 
was an innovator; he set the example of enterprises of conquest 
beyond the sea. 

He had rebuilt and resettled Messena, and now he attacked 
Rhegium, opposite it on the strait. But the confederate cities of 




28 1 



282 SYRACUSAN EMPIRE AND STRUGGLE WITH CARTHAGE 

the Italian coast came to the rescue, and defeated Dionysius, who 
declared war on the federation. He besieged Caulonia, and the 

389 b.c. federal army came out from Croton to oppose him. Dionysius 

was victorious, and ten thousand fugitives cut off on a high hill 
without water were forced to surrender at discretion, and Dionys- 
ius told them off with a wand as they passed him, each man ex- 
pecting bondage, if not death. They were let go without even a 
ransom. This act of mercy produced a great sensation, and its 
wisdom was soon approved. The communities to which the cap- 
tives belonged voted him golden crowns and made separate treaties 
with him. Only Rhegium, Caulonia, and Hipponion stood out; 
the two smaller towns were taken, and their people transplanted 
to Syracuse. Rhegium stood a siege of ten months, but was at 
last reduced, and all its inhabitants who could not find ransoms 
were sold into slavery. He was now master of both sides of the 
strait, and held the fortress which was the bulwark of Greek Italy. 
Eight years later he captured Croton, and his power in Italy 
reached its greatest height. 

In the meantime, Dionysius was pushing even farther afield, 
and planting colonies on both shores of the Adriatic. The Syra- 
cusan empire now included the greater portion of Sicily and the 
southern peninsula of Italy. It had remoter dependencies, allies 
rather than subjects, in Thurii and other Italiot cities north of the 
Crathis; in Iapygia, on the heel of Italy; in the kingdom of Molos- 
sia, on the Epirot coast, and in some seaboard parts of Illyria. 
But the maintenance of this empire forced Dionysius to lay upon 
the Syracusans a most burdensome taxation. It is little wonder 
that the tyrant had an evil repute in the mother-country. 

It was only for a moment that the dominion of the Syracusan 

383 b.c. despot reached its extreme limits. He had hardly won the city 

and lands of Croton, when his borders fell back in the west of his 
own island. A new war with Carthage had broken out, and a 
battle was fought at Cronion, near Panormus, and Dionysius was 
defeated with terrible loss, and compelled to make a disadvan- 



DIONYSIUS THE YOUNGER AND DION 283 

tageous peace. The boundary of Greek against Punic Sicily was 
withdrawn from the river Mazarus to the river Halycus. This 378 b.c. 
means that the deliverer of Selinus and Thermae gave back those 
cities to the mercies of the barbarian. 

Ten years later Dionysius made war once more upon Carthage, 
and for the second time he invaded Punic Sicily. He delivered 
Selinus, and captured Eryx along with its haven Drepanon. But 
he failed in an attempt upon Lilybaeum, which the Carthaginians 
had founded to take the place of Motya,and he lost a large part of 
his fleet. This was the last undertaking of the great " ruler of 
Sicily." He died before peace was concluded, of a strange cause. 
He was a dramatic poet, and had frequently competed with his 
tragedies at Athens, but had never won first prize. Now, to con- 
sole him for his failures, came the news that his Ransom of Hector 
had gained first place at the Lenaean festival. In his joy he drank 
indiscreetly, fever followed, and a narcotic administered to him 367 b.c. 
brought on the sleep of death. 

6. Dionysius the Younger and Dion. — The empire of Dionysius 
descended to his son, Dionysius, a youth not without amiable 
qualities, but of the nature that is easily swayed to good or evil. 
At first he was under the influence of Dion, who had been the most 
trusted minister of the elder Dionysius in the latter part of his 
reign, and who might easily have made himself tyrant. But Dion 
desired to get rid of tyranny. He was the friend of Plato, and his 
hope was to establish at Syracuse an ideal constitution, such as 
Plato had sketched. 

No welcome could have been more honorable and flattering 
than that which Plato received. He engaged the respect and ad- 
miration of Dionysius, and the young tyrant was easily brought to 
regard tyranny as a vile thing and to cherish the plan of building 
up a new constitution. But Plato insisted on imparting to his 
pupil a systematic course of philosophical training, and began with 
the science of geometry. The tyrant took up the study with eager- 
ness ; his court was absorbed in geometry ; but he presently wearied 



284 SYRACUSAN EMPIRE AND STRUGGLE WITH CARTHAGE 

of it. And then influences which were opposed to the scheme of 
Dion and Plato began to tell. 

Those who were entirely adverse to the proposed reforms in- 
sinuated that the true object of Dion was to secure the tyranny for 
one of his own nephews, and at last an indiscreet letter of Dion 
gave them the means of success. Syracuse and Carthage were 
negotiating peace, and Dion wrote to the Carthaginian judges 
not to act without first consulting him. The letter was intercepted 
and was interpreted as treason. Dion was banished from Sicily. 

Dion betook himself to Old Greece and made Athens his head- 
quarters. At length Dion, deeming that the time for action had 
come, landed in southwestern Sicily with a small force. Dionys- 
ius had departed for Italy with eighty ships. Learning this, Dion 
marched to Syracuse, picking up reinforcements, both Greek and 
Sicel, on his way, and entered Syracuse amid general rejoicings. 
The assembly placed the government in the hands of twenty 
generals, Dion among them. 

Dion was not a man who could hold the affections of the people, 
for he repelled men by his exceeding haughtiness ; a rival appeared 
on the scene who possessed more popular manners. This was a 
certain Heraclides with whom he was forced to share the power. 
In the meantime, Dionysius, whose forces held the island, after 
making assaults with varying success, resolved to surrender to 
Dion and withdraw to Locri; thus leaving Dion in a position to 
become master of Syracuse. 

Dion professed to have come to give Syracuse freedom. The 
Syracusan citizens wanted the restoration of their democracy; 
but he desired to establish an aristocracy, with some democratic 
limitations, and with a king, or kings, as in Sparta. The Syra- 
cusans longed to see the fortress of the tyrant demolished; Dion 
allowed it to remain, and its existence seemed a standing invita- 
tion to tyranny. His authority was only limited by the joint com- 
mand of Heraclides, and at last he was brought to consent that his 
rival should be secretly assassinated. After this he was to all 



TIMOLEON 285 

purposes tyrant, though he might repudiate tyranny with his lips. 
Finally he was murdered ; and in the next eight years no less 354 b.c. 
than four different tyrants held Syracuse. Then Dionysius re- 34 6 b.c. 
gained Ortygia. 

7. Timoleon. — The Sicilian Greeks, bent w T ith a plague of 
tyrannies, and threatened with a new Carthaginian armament, 
appealed to Corinth. Corinth sent them Timoleon, a man who 
had first saved his brother's life in battle and then slain that brother 344 b.c. 
for plotting a tyranny. Timoleon arrived with ten ships, and 
established himself at the Sicel town of Hadranum. City after 
city joined him, and presently Dionysius proposed to surrender 
Ortygia and retire with his private property to Corinth. This was 
agreed to, and the tyrant ended his life at Corinth in obscurity. 
The rest of Syracuse was held by Hiketas, tyrant of Leontini, and 
to help Hiketas came a Punic fleet under Mago. But Mago, sus- 
pecting treachery among his Greek mercenaries, withdrew, Hike- 
tas was driven out, and Syracuse was free. The fortress of Dionys- 
ius was pulled down, and proclamation made recalling banished 
citizens and inviting settlers. Timoleon went on to do the same 
work in other Sicilian towns. 

But Carthage was preparing a great effort. An armament 
landed at Lilybaeum, having in the host the "Sacred Band" of 339 b.c. 
2500 Carthaginian citizens. They decided to march across Sicily, 
and Timoleon went to meet them with an army of 9000 in all. 
The armies met at the Crimisus, the Greeks being on a hill above 
the river. The Punic war-chariots crossed first, and after them 
the Sacred Band. Timoleon attacked, while the host was divided 
by the river; his cavalry was driven back by the chariots, but the 
infantry reached the Sacred Band, and failing to break the shield 
wall with spears, took to their swords, when skill and quickness 
told. The Sacred Band was routed; and in the face of the rest 
of the host came down a tempest of wind-driven rain and hail. 
In the muddy ground the lighter-armed Greeks had an advantage, 
and the storm swelled the Crimisus to a furious torrent behind the 



286 SYRACUSAN EMPIRE AND STRUGGLE WITH CARTHAGE 

beaten army. Fifteen thousand prisoners were secured; ten 
thousand killed in the fight; rich spoils of gold and silver 
taken. Timoleon had gained a victory which may be set beside 
Gelon's at Himera. 

Having now delivered Sicily both from despots and from 
foreign powers, Timoleon, a man unique in Greek history, laid 
down the power intrusted to him. The Syracusans gave him a 
property near Syracuse, and there he dwelt till his death, two 
years after his crowning victory. Occasionally he visited the 
city when the folk wished to ask for his counsel, but he had be- 
come blind, and these visits were rare. He was lamented by all 
Greek Sicily, and at Syracuse his memory was preserved by a 
group of public buildings called after him. 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 89) 

1. Dionysius I. 

Botsford, 239-245. Holm, III, 130-142. Bury, 639-669. 

2. Timoleon. 

Botsford, 245-249. Holm, III, 401-409. Bury, 673-679. 
Sources. Plutarch, Timoleon. 





Alliance Coin (Hemidrachm, Enlarged) of Leontini and Catane. 
Obverse: Head of Apollo Wreathed with Bay; Bay Leaf and 
Berry [Legend: aeon (tow)]- Reverse: Bull (River Sim^ethos) ; 
Fish below [Legend: katanaion] 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

i . Macedonia. — The death of Epaminondas and collapse of 362 b.c. 
Thebes left Athens the leading state in Greece, and she would 
doubtless have formed a new empire but for the growth of two out- 
lying semi-Hellenic powers, Macedon and Caria. She recovered 
the Chersonese with the command of the Propontis, and won back 
Eubcea to her league; it seemed even likely that she would regain 357 b.c. 
Amphipolis, but this project, bringing her into collision with 
Macedon, opened a new chapter in Greek history. 

In their fortress of ^Egae the Macedonian kings had ruled for 
ages with absolute sway over the lands on the northern and north- 
western coasts of the Thermaic Gulf, which formed Macedonia in 
the strictest sense. The Macedonian people and their kings were 
of Greek stock, as their traditions and the scanty remains of their 
language combine to testify. They were a military people, and 
they extended their power westward and northward over the 
peoples of the hills, so that Macedonia in the wide sense of the name 
reached to the borders of the Illyrians in the west and of the Paeo- 
nians in the north. In fact, the Macedonian kingdom consisted of 
two heterogeneous parts, and the Macedonian kings had two 
different characters. Over the Greek Macedonians of the coast 
the king ruled immediately; they were his own people, his own 
" Companions." Over the Illyric folks of the hills he was only 
overlord; they were each subject to their own chieftain, and the 
chieftains were his unruly vassals. Macedonia could never be- 
come a great power until these vassal peoples had been brought 

287 



288 



THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 



365 B.C. 



359 B.C. 




Coin of Archelaus 
I. (Obverse). 
Horseman with 
Two Spears 



under the direct rule of the kings, and until the Illyrian and Paeo- 
nian neighbors had been taught a severe lesson. 

The kings had made some efforts to introduce Greek civilization 
into their land. Archelaus had succeeded in making his court at 
Pella a center for famous artists and poets, 
such as Zeuxis, the painter, and Euripides. 
But no law bound the Macedonian monarch; 
his subjects had only one solitary right 
against him. In the case of a capital charge, 
the king could not put a Macedonian to death 
without the authority of a general assembly. 
Fighting and hunting were the chief occupa- 
tions of this vigorous people. A Macedo- 
nian who had not killed his man wore a 
cord round his waist; and until he had slain a wild boar he 
could not sit at table with the men. 

2. Early Conquests of Philip II. of Macedonia. — The usurping 
regent Ptolemy had been slain by his ward, the young King Per- 
diccas. Six years later 
the Illyrians swooped 
down upon Macedo- 
nia, and Perdiccas was 
slain in battle. It was 
a critical moment for 
the kingdom ; the Pseo- 
nians menaced it in 
the north, and from 
the east a Thracian 
army was advancing to set a pretender on the throne. The 
rightful heir, Amyntas, the son of the slain king, was a child. 
But there was one man in the land who was equal to the situa- 
tion — this child's uncle, Philip; and he took the government and 
the guardianship of the boy into his own hands. Philip, as one 
of the hostages carried off to Thebes, had lived there for a few 





Coin of Philip II. Obverse: Head of Lau- 
reate Zeus. Reverse: Horse and Jockey; 
Thunderbolt below [Legend: $iAinnoY] 



EARLY CONQUESTS OF PHILIP II. 289 

years, and had drunk in the military and political wisdom of 
Epaminondas and Pelopidas. He was now twenty-four years 
old. His first step was to buy off the Paeonians by a large sum 
of money, his next to get rid of the pretenders. One of these, 
Argaeus, was assisted by a strong fleet. Philip defeated him, and 
did all in his power to come to terms with Athens. He released 
without ransom the Athenians whom he had made prisoners in the 
battle ; and he renounced all claim to the possession of Amphipolis. 
He then turned his forces against the Paeonians and Illyrians, 
whom he defeated in two decisive battles. With his territory 
now cleared of invaders, he began to push eastward to gain 
possession of the rich gold mines in Thrace. But in order to con- 
trol these he must become master of Amphipolis, which com- 
manded the Strymon. To disarm 
the suspicions of the Athenians, he 
promised to turn over Amphipolis 
to them in exchange for the free 

town of Pydna. He broke his word, 

j .1 -i r .1 • Gold Coin of Philippi. Ob- 

and they cried out; but their own 

J ' verse: Head of Heracles. 

part of the agreement was a shame- reverse: Tripod; Palm 
ful act of treachery to Pydna, their above; Phrygian Cap [Le- 
ally. When Philip had taken Am- GEND: «*™on] 
phipolis, he converted the Thasian settlement of Crenides into 
a great fortress, which he called after his own name, Philippi. 
The yield of the gold mines amounted at least to one thousand 
talents a year. No Greek state was so rich. The old capital, 
^Egae, was now definitely abandoned, and the seat of govern- 
ment was established at Pella. 

Not long afterward Philip captured Pydna. He then took 
Potidaea, but instead of keeping it for himself, handed it over to 
the Olynthians. Thus he dexterously propitiated the Olynthians 356 b.c. 
— intending to devour them on some future day. With the ex- 
ception of Methone, the Athenians had no foothold now on the 
coasts of the Thermaic Gulf, 
u 




290 



THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 



3. The Organization of the Macedonian Army. — Having es- 
tablished his mining town, Philip assumed the royal title, setting 
his nephew aside, and devoted himself during the next few 
years to the consolidation of his kingdom, and the creation of 
a national army. It was in these years that he made Macedonia. 



AegaeiS, '"!/ 



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The Growth of the Power of Macedonia 



His task was to unite the hill tribes, along with his own Macedo- 
nians of the coast, into one nation. The means by which he ac- 
complished this was by military organization. He made the high- 
landers into professional soldiers, and kept them always under 
arms. Both infantry and cavalry were indeed organized in ter- 
ritorial regiments ; but common interests tended to obliterate these 
distinctions, and they were done away with under Philip's son. 
The heavy cavalry were called "Companions" of the king. Among 
the infantry there was one body of " Royal" guards, the silver- 
shielded Hypaspistce. 



MAUSOLUS OF CARTA 



291 



The famous Macedonian phalanx, which Philip drilled, was 
merely a modified form of the usual battle-line of Greek spearmen. 
The men in the phalanx stood freer, in a more open array, and 
used a longer spear; so that the whole line was more easily wielded, 
and the effect was produced, not merely by sheer pressure, but by 
the skillful manipulation of weapons. Nor was the phalanx in- 
tended to decide a battle, like the deep columns of Epaminondas; 
its function was to keep the front of the foe in play, while the cav- 
alry, in wedge-like squadrons, rode into the flanks. 

But Greece paid little heed to the things which Philip was doing. 
When Philip married Olympias, the daughter of an Epirot prince 
the event could cause no sensation ; the birth of Alexander a year 
later stirred no man's heart in Greece ; for who, in his wildest c. Oct., 
dreams, could have foreseen in the Macedonian infant the greatest 356 B,c * 
conqueror who had yet been born into the world ? If it had been 
revealed to men that a new power had started up, they would have 
turned their eyes, not to Pella, but to Halicarnassus. 

4. Mausolus of Caria. — Caria, like Mace- 
donia, was peopled by a double race, the 
native Carians and the Greek settlers on 
the coast. The native Carians were farther 
removed than the Illyrians from the Greeks. 
Yet the Carians were in closer touch with 
Greece than the Greeks of Macedonia. The 
Carian cities, to all appearance Greek towns, 
had nominally free assemblies, like Athens 
under Pisistratus; but they were all subject 
to one ruler, the "dynast," who was officially 
recognized as satrap of Persia. Mausolus, second of these native 
satraps, annexed Lycia, and, aiming at a naval power, changed his 
capital from inland Mylasa to Halicarnassus on the sea. His spe- 
cial object was to win the islands of Rhodes, Cos, and Chios, dis- 
contented members of the Athenian league; and at his insti- 
gation they revolted jointly, and were joined by Byzantium. 




Coin of Mauso- 
lus (Reverse). 
Zeus Labran- 
deus with twy- 
Axe ; Wreath 
[Legend: may2- 

2AAAO] 



292 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

Athens immediately sent naval forces to Chios, but failed to 
regain the island. Soon afterward negotiations were opened with 
the revolted allies, and a peace was made. Athens recognized the 
independence of the three islands, Chios, Cos, and Rhodes, and 
of the city of Byzantium. It was not long before Lesbos also 
severed itself from the Athenian alliance, which thus lost all its im- 
portant members in the eastern JEgean ; and in the west Corcyra 
fell away about the same time. 

All happened as Mausolus foresaw. He helped the oligarchies 
to overthrow the popular governments, and then gave them the 
protection of Carian garrisons. But soon after the success of his 
policy against Athens, he died, leaving his power to his widow, 
Artemisia. The expansion of the Carian power, which seemed 
probable under the active administration of Mausolus, was never 
fulfilled. A statue of the prince, now in the British Museum, 
stood, along with that of Artemisia, within the tomb which 
he probably began, and which she certainly completed. It 
rose above the harbor at Halicarnassus, adorned with friezes 
wrought by four of the most illustrious sculptors of the day, of 
whom Scopas himself was one. From it is derived the word 
Mausoleum. 

5. Phocis and the Sacred War. — In the meantime, another of 
the states of northern Greece seemed likely to win the position 
of supremacy. Phocis came forward in her turn. Thebes, how- 
ever, decided to check her rival through the old Amphictionic 
league in which Epaminondas had won her an influence; at an 
Amphictionic assembly, a number of rich and prominent Phocians 
were condemned to pay large fines for some act of sacrilege. When 
these sums were not paid within the prescribed time, the Amphic- 
tions decreed that the lands of the defaulters should be taken from 
them and consecrated to the Delphian god. 

The accused determined to resist. Their leader, Philomelus, 
discerned clearly that mercenaries would be required to 
defend Phocis against her enemies, — Boeotians, Locrians, 



PHOCIS AND THE SACRED WAR 



293 



and Thessalians, — and boldly seized the treasure at Del- 
phi, which enabled him to hire troops. The next object of 356 b.c. 




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Philomelus was to enlist Hellenic opinion in his favor, 
sent envoys to Sparta, to Athens, to Thebes itself, to 
that in seizing Delphi the 
Phocians were simply re- 
suming their rights over 
the temple, and to declare 
that they were ready to 
allow all the treasures to 
be weighed and numbered, 
and to be responsible to 
Greece for their safety. In 
consequence of these em- 
bassies, Sparta allied her- 
self with Phocis, while Athens and some smaller states promised 
their support. 




Coin of Delphic Amphictiony (Fourth 
Century). Obverse: Demeter, with 
Veil and Crown of Corn. Reverse: 
Apollo, sitting on Omphalos, lean- 
ing on Lyre [Legend: am*iktionqn] 



294 THE RISE 0F MACEDONIA 

The Amphictionic assembly met at Thermopylae, and it was 
decided that an Amphictionic army should rescue Delphi. But by 
offering large pay, Philomelus assembled an army of ten thousand 
men, who cared little whence the money came. An indecisive war 
followed, till at length the Phocians underwent a severe defeat 

354 b.c. on the north side of Mount Parnassus, and Philomelus perished. 

6. Intervention of Philip of Macedonia. — His successor 
Onomarchus reorganized the troops, and entered upon a short 
career of signal successes. He reduced Doris, gained Ther- 
mopylae, and made an alliance with the tyrants of Pherae. This 
induced Philip to intervene, and marks a new stage in the course 
of the Sacred War. But Onomarchus defeated the Macedonian 

353 b.c. army in two battles with serious loss, and Philip was compelled 

to withdraw into Macedonia. 

At this moment, the power of the Phocians was at its height. 
Their supremacy reached from the shores of the Corinthian Gulf 
to the slopes of Olympus. They were masters of the pass of 
Thermopylae, and they had two important posts in western Bceotia. 
But Philip of Macedon speedily retrieved the humiliation which 
he had suffered at the hands of his Phocian foes. In the 
following year he descended again into Thessaly, and in a 
decisive battle defeated the Phocian army, and thus became 
master of Thessaly. He now prepared to march southward for 
the purpose of delivering the shrine of Apollo from the posses- 
sion of the Phocians, whom he professed to regard as sacri- 
legious usurpers. 

Phocis was now in great need, and her allies — Sparta, Achaea, 
and Athens — at length determined to give her active help. The 
Macedonian must not be permitted to pass Thermopylae. The 
statesman Eubulus, now predominant at Athens, acted promptly 
on this occasion, and sent a large force to defend the pass. Philip 
at once recognized that it would be extremely hazardous to at- 

352 b.c tempt to force the position, and he retired. Thus Phocis was 

rescued for the time. 



AIMS OF PHILIP 295 

7. Aims of Philip. — No sooner had Philip returned from 
Thessaly than he moved against Thrace, and forced the king, 
Cersobleptes, to submit. His movements were so rapid that 
Athens had no time to come to the rescue. When the news 
arrived, there was a panic, and an armament was voted to save the 
Chersonese. But a new message came that Philip had fallen 
ill ; then he was reported dead ; and the sending of the armament 
was postponed. Philip's illness was a fact; it compelled him to 
desist from further operations, and the Chersonesus was saved. 

Eight years had not elapsed since Philip had mounted the throne 
of Macedon ; and he had altered the whole prospect of the Greek 
world. He had created an army, and a thoroughly adequate 
revenue; he had made himself lord of almost the whole seaboard 
of the northern ^gean from the defile of Thermopylae to the shores 
of the Propontis. The only lands which were still excepted from 
his direct or indirect sway were the Chersonesus and the territory 
of the Chalcidian league. He was ambitious to secure a recog- 
nized hegemony in Greece; to form, in fact, a confederation of 
allies, which should hold some such dependent relation toward him 
as the confederates of Delos had held toward Athens. Rumors 
were already floating about that his ultimate design was to lead a 
Panhellenic expedition against the Persian king. Though the 
Greek states regarded Philip as in a certain sense an outsider, it 
must never be forgotten that Philip desired to identify Macedonia 
with Greece, and to bring his own country up to the level of the 
kindred peoples which had so far outstripped it in civilization. 
Throughout his whole career he regarded Athens with respect, 
and would have given much for her friendship. He was himself 
imbued with Greek culture; and if the robust Macedonian en- 
joyed the society of the somewhat rude boon companions of his 
own land with whom he could drink deep, he knew how to 
make himself agreeable to Attic men of letters. He chose Aris- 
totle of Stagira, who had been educated at Athens, to be the 
instructor of his son Alexander. 



296 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

8. Demosthenes. — In these years Athens was under the 
guidance of a cautious statesman, Eubulus. He pursued a 
peace policy; yet it was he who struck the one effective blow 
that Athens ever struck at Philip, when she hindered him from 
passing Thermopylae. The news of Philip's campaign in Thrace 
may have temporarily weakened his influence ; and his opponents 
had a fair opportunity to inveigh against an inactive policy. The 
most prominent among these opponents was Demosthenes. His 
father was an Athenian manufacturer, who died when Demos- 
thenes was still a child; his guardians dealt fraudulently with 
the considerable fortune left him; and when he came of age he 
resolved to recover it. For this purpose he sat at the feet of the 
orator Isaeus, and was trained in law and rhetoric. Demosthenes 
used himself to tell how he struggled to overcome his natural 
defects of speech and manner until he became the most ap- 
plauded orator in Athens. 

The advance of Philip to the Propontis now gave him occasion 
351 b.c. for that political harangue, known as the First Philippic, one of 

his most brilliant and effective speeches, calling upon the Athe- 
nians to brace themselves vigorously to oppose Philip, " our 
enemy." He draws a lively picture of the indifference of his 
countrymen and contrasts it with the energy of Philip, "who is 
not the man to rest content with what he has subdued, but is 
always adding to his conquests, and casts his snare around us while 
we sit at home postponing." 

Demosthenes proposed a scheme for increasing the military 
forces of the city; and the most essential part of the scheme was 
that a force should be sent to Thrace, of which a quarter should 
consist of citizens, and the officers should be citizens. The orator 
was applauded, but nothing was done. His ideal was the Athens 
of Pericles; but he lived in the Athens of Eubulus. The Athenians 
were quite capable of holding their own among their old friends 
and enemies, the Spartans and Thebans and the islanders of the 
^Egean ; with paid soldiers and generals like Iphicrates and Chares 



THE ADVANCE OF MACEDONIA 297 

they could maintain their position as a first-rate power. Athens 
was still the great sea power of the iEgean, well able to protect her 
commerce. But against a large, vigorous land power, with a 
formidable army, her chances were hopeless ; for, since the fall of 




Portrait Head of Demosthenes 



their empire, the whole spirit of the people had tended to peace and 
not to war. 

9. The Advance of Macedonia. Fall of Olynthus. — The next 
stage in the development of Macedonia was the incorporation of 



298 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

Chalcidice. Philip sent a requisition to the Olynthians, demand- 
ing the surrender of his half-brother, a pretender to the Macedonian 
throne, to whom they had given shelter. The demand was re- 
fused, and Philip marched against Chalcidice. One after another 
the cities of the Olynthian confederacy opened their gates to him; 
or if they refused, they were captured. 

In her jeopardy Olynthus sought an alliance with Athens, and 
it was during the debates on this question that Demosthenes pro- 

349 b.c. nounced his Olynthiac orations, which were, in fact, Philippics. 

At this juncture the Athenians seem to have been awakened to the 
necessity of action sufficiently to embolden Demosthenes to throw 
out the unpopular suggestion that the Theoric Fund should be 
devoted to military purposes; and he repeated his old plea for 
citizen-soldiers. An alliance was concluded, and mercenaries 
were despatched to the Chalcidian peninsula. Philip might have 
been placed in some embarrassment, especially as Cersobleptes, 
king of Thrace, had rebelled; but he diverted the concern of 
Athens in another direction. He had long been engaged in in- 
trigues in Eubcea, and now Eubcea revolted. The division of 
forces was fatal. Phocion was sent to Eubcea and won a battle, 
but returned to Athens without having recovered any of the re- 
bellious cities. The enemy had taken a number of prisoners, for 
whose ransom Athens had to pay fifty talents; and the indepen- 
dence of Eubcea was acknowledged. 

Meanwhile, Philip was pressing Olynthus hard, and urgent ap- 
peals were sent to Athens. This time Demosthenes had his way, 
and two thousand citizen-soldiers sailed for the north. But 
Olynthus was captured before they reached it. The place was 
destroyed and the inhabitants scattered in various parts of 

348 b.c. Macedonia. The other cities of the confederacy were practically 

incorporated in Macedonia. 

10. The Peace of Philocrates. — These military efforts had left 
Athens without money to pay the judges their daily wage. Peace 
was a necessity; but the fall of Olynthus, where many Athenians 



THE PEACE OF PHILOCRATES 299 

had been captured, stung Athens, and an embassy was despatched 
to the Peloponnesus to organize a national resistance of the Greeks 
to the destroyer of Olynthus. The emissary chosen was the orator 
y^schines, famous as the antagonist of Demosthenes. He had 
been first a teacher in a school kept by his father, then a tragic 
actor, and finally a public clerk. 

Philip, on his part, desired two things — to make peace with 
Athens and to become a member of the Amphictionic Council. 
Thebes now invoked his aid to crush the Phocians; and the Pho- 
cians, hearing this, sent to Athens and Sparta for help to keep 
Philip out of Greece. It was granted. But the Phocian com- 
mander refused to admit either Spartans or Athenians to Ther- 
mopylae ; and as it was feared that he might surrender it to Philip, 
the necessity for making peace with Philip grew more imperative. 
Ten Athenian envoys, and one representative of the Athenian allies, 
were sent to Pella to negotiate terms of peace with the Macedonian 
king. Among the envoys were ^Eschines and Demosthenes. The 
terms to which Philip agreed were that Athens andMacedon should 
each retain the territories of which they were actually in possession 
at the time the peace was concluded, and that the peace would be 
concluded when both sides had sworn to it. Both the allies of 
Macedonia and those of Athens were to be included, except the 
Phocians. By these terms, which were perfectly explicit, Athens 
would surrender her old claim to Amphipolis, and on the other 
hand, Philip would recognize Athens as mistress of the Chersonese. 
The exception which Philip made was inevitable; it was an es- 
sential part of the Macedonian policy to proceed against Phocis. 

There were a few Thracian forts which Philip was anxious to 
capture before the peace was made; and while the Athenians 
debated and finally accepted the proposals, Philip captured the 
fortresses in Thrace and reduced its king to a vassal. When he 
returned to Pella, so far as the formal conclusion of the peace went 
there was no difficulty, but the Athenian ambassadors had re- 
ceived general powers to negotiate further with Philip on the 



300 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

settlement of the Phocian question and northern Greece. If 
Philip could have had his way, the alliance would have be- 
come a bond of close friendship and cooperation. Athens 
might have taken her position now as joint arbitrator with Philip 
in the settlement of the Amphictionic question. But De- 
mosthenes opposed such a plan; and desired an alliance with 
Thebes, so that both Athens and Thebes might oppose the 
Macedonian advance. 

ii. Philip in Greece. — Philip, in the meantime, advanced 
southward. The pass of Thermopylae was opened to him; but 
before he reached Thermopylae, he addressed two friendly letters 
to Athens, inviting her to send an army to arrange the affairs of 
Phocis and Boeotia. But the Athenians listened to the sugges- 
tions of Demosthenes that Philip would detain their army as 
hostages. Accordingly, they contented themselves with sending 
an embassy to convey to Philip an announcement of the decree 
which they had passed, calling upon the Phocians to surrender 
Delphi. 

As it was clear that Philip could not trust Athens, owing to the 
attitude of Demosthenes, he was constrained to act in conjunction 
with her enemy, Thebes. The doom of the Phocians was decided 
by the Amphictionic Council, which was now convoked. The 
Phocians were deprived of their place in the Amphictionic body; 
and all their cities (with the exception of Abas) were broken up into 
villages, so that they might not again be a danger to Delphi. They 
were obliged to undertake to pay back, by installments of sixty 
talents a year, the value of the treasures which they had taken 
from the sanctuary. The place which Phocis vacated in the 
Council was transferred to Macedonia, in recognition of Philip's 
services. 

An occasion offered itself to Philip almost immediately to dis- 
play publicly to the assembled Greek world the position of leader- 
ship which he had thus won. It so happened that the celebration 
of the Pythian games fell in the year of the peace. Athens sulked ; 



k 



INTERVAL OF PEACE AND PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 3OI 

she sent no deputy to the Amphictionic meeting which elected 
Philip president for the festival, no delegates to the festival itself. 
A great tide of anti-Macedonian feeling had set in, which made 
Demosthenes henceforward her most influential counselor. Yet 
neither Demosthenes nor Eubulus knew the needs of Athens or of 
Greece. The only man of the day who really grasped the situation 
was the nonagenarian Isocrates. He explained in an open letter 
to Philip the futility of perpetuating a number of small sovereign 
states. The time had come to unite Greece, and to dispose of the 
superfluous population who went about as roving mercenaries by 
a great act of colonization. And he called upon Philip to lead 
forth the hosts of Hellas against the barbarian and win a new 
world. 

12. Interval of Peace and Preparations for War (346-341 B.C.). 
— Having gained for Macedonia the coveted place in the religious 
league of Greece, Philip spent the next year or two in improving 
his small navy, in settling the administration of Thessaly, and in 
acquiring influence in the Peloponnesus. The Thessalian cities 
elected the Macedonian king as their archon, and he set four 
governors over the four great divisions of the country. South of 
the Corinthian Isthmus, his negotiations gained him the adhesion of 
Messenia and Megalopolis, Elis, and Argos. Nor did Philip yet 
despair of achieving his chief aim, the conciliation of Athens. The 
veteran Eubulus was in favor of friendly relations; so were ^Es- 
chines and Philocrates ; and so was the incorruptible soldier Pho- 
cion. This notable person was marked among his contemporaries 
as an honest man, superior to all temptations of money; and, since 
the Athenians always prized this superhuman integrity which few 
of them attempted to practise, they elected him forty-five times as 
strategos, though in military capacity he was no more than a 
respectable sergeant. But his strong common-sense, which was 
impervious to oratory, and his exceptional probity, made him a 
useful member of his party. 

There was one man in Athens who was firmlv resolved that the 



3<D2 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

peace should be a mere interval preparatory to war. Demosthenes 
spent the time in inflaming the wrath of his countrymen against 
Philip, and in seeking to ruin his political antagonists. He went on 
a mission to the Peloponnesian cities, and his oratory occasioned an 
embassy from Pella to remonstrate. In reply to this embassy, 

344 b.c. the Second Philippic was delivered, inculcating the baseless view 

that Philip desired and purposed to destroy Athens. 

Philip now decided to turn to one of the greatest tasks 

342-341 b.c which was imposed upon the expander of Macedonia — the sub- 
jugation of Thrace. His campaign lasted ten months, and he 
spent a winter in the field in that wintry land, suffering from sick- 
ness as well as from the cold ; for in war Philip never spared him- 
self either hardship or danger. TheThracian king was dethroned, 
and his kingdom became a tributary province. This conquest 
threatened nearly and seriously the position of Athens at the gates 
of the Black Sea. Demosthenes induced Athens to attack an ally 

341 b.c of Philip, and delivered a loud call to war — the harangue known 

as the Third Philippic. 

Envoys were sent here and there to raise the alarm. Demos- 
thenes himself proceeded to the Propontis and succeeded in de- 
taching Byzantium and Perinthus from the Macedonian alliance. 
At the same time Athenian troops were sent into Eubcea; the gov- 
ernments in Oreus and Eretria, which were under the influence of 
Philip, were overthrown, and these cities joined an independent 
Eubceic league. All these acts of hostility were committed without 
an overt breach of the peace between Athens and Philip. But the 
secession of Perinthus and Byzantium was a blow which Philip 
was not prepared to take with equanimity. When he had settled 
his Thracian province, he began the siege of Perinthus by land and 
sea. Athens remained inactive, till the king suddenly raised the 
siege of Perinthus and marched against Byzantium, hoping to 
capture it by the unexpectedness of his attack. Now Athens 
could no longer hold aloof when the key of the Bosphorus was in 
peril. A squadron under Chares was sent to help Byzantium, and 



L 



MARCH OF PHILIP 303 

Phocion presently followed with a second fleet. Other help had 
come from Rhodes and Chios, and Philip was compelled to with- 340 b.c. 
draw into Thrace. Demosthenes received a public vote of thanks 
from the Athenian people. 

13. March of Philip. Alliance of Athens and Thebes. — 
Philip had now no choice. The irreconcilable Demosthenes, who 
before the siege of Byzantium was merely an agitator, now 
directed affairs at Athens, and with amazing vigor. War was 
inevitable; and the whole hope of Demosthenes lay in alliance 
with Thebes. Athenian and Theban troops together might suc- 
cessfully resist a Macedonian invasion. 

The invasion soon came, and through a curious occasion. A 
Sacred War was declared on some slight pretext against Amphissa; 
and since both Athens and Thebes stood aloof, the Amphictions 
called upon Philip to be their leader in this religious quarrel. 
Philip did not delay a moment. Advancing through the defile 
of Thermopylae into northern Phocis, he seized and refortified the 
dismantled city of Elatea. The purpose of this action was to 
protect himself in the rear against Bceotia, and preserve his com- 
munications with Thermopylae while he was operating against 
Amphissa. But while he halted at Elatea, he sent ambassadors 
to discover the intentions of Thebes. He declared that he intended 
to invade Attica, and called upon the Thebans to join him in the 
invasion, or, if they would not do this, to give his army a free pas- 
sage through Bceotia. 

In Athens, when the news came that the Macedonian army was 
at Elatea, the city was filled with consternation for a night and a 
day, and these anxious hours have become famous in history 
through the genius of the orator Demosthenes, who in later years 
recalled to the people the scene and their own emotions by a pic- 
turesque description which no orator has surpassed. On the ad- 
vice of Demosthenes, the Athenians despatched ten envoys to 
Thebes; everything depended on detaching Thebes from the 
Macedonian alliance. The envoys, of whom Demosthenes was 



304 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

one, were instructed to make concessions and exact none. The 
Athenians were ready to pay two-thirds of the expenses of the 
war; they abandoned their claim to Oropus, and they recog- 
nized the Boeotian dominion of Thebes. By these concessions 
they secured the alliance of Thebes, and Demosthenes achieved 
the consummation to which his policy had been directed for 
many years. 

14. Battle of Chaeronea. — Philip captured Amphissa and 
Naupactus. Then he turned back to carry the war into Bceotia, 
and when he entered the great western gate of that country close 
to Chaeronea, he found the army of the allies guarding the way to 
Thebes and prepared to give him battle. He had 30,000 foot 
soldiers and 2000 horse, perhaps slightly outnumbering his foes. 

Their line extended over about three and a half miles, the left 
Aug., 338 b.c. wing resting on Chaeronea and the right on the river Cephisus. The 
Theban hoplites, with the Sacred Band in front, were assigned the 
right, which was esteemed the post of honor. In the center were 
ranged the troops of the lesser allies — Achaeans, Corinthians, 
Phocians, and others. On the left stood the Athenians under 
three generals — Chares, Lysicles, and Stratocles, of whom Chares 
was a respectable soldier with considerable experience and no 
talent, while the other two were incompetent. Demosthenes 
himself was serving as a hoplite in the ranks. 

We can form a general notion of the tactics of Philip. The 
most formidable part of the adverse array was the Theban infantry; 
and accordingly he posted on his own left wing the phalanx, with 
its more open order and long pikes. On the flank of this wing he 
placed his heavy cavalry, to ride down upon the Thebans when the 
phalanx had worn them out. The cavalry was commanded by 
Alexander, now a lad of eighteen. The right wing was compara- 
tively weak, and Philip planned that it should gradually give way 
before the attack of the Athenians, and draw them on, so as to 
divide them from their allies. This plan of holding back the right 
wing reminds us of the tactics of Epaminondas; but the use of 



L 



THE CONGRESS OF THE GREEKS 305 

cavalry to decide the combat is the characteristic feature of Philip's 
battles. 

The Athenians pressed forward, fondly fancying that they were 
pressing to victory, and Stratocles in the flush of success cried, 
"On to Macedonia !" But, in the meantime, the Thebans had been 
broken by Alexander's horsemen : their leader had fallen, and the 
comrades of the Sacred Band were making a last hopeless stand. 
Philip could now spare some of his Macedonian footmen, and he 
moved them so as to take the Athenians in flank and rear. Against 
the assaults of these trained troops, the Athenians were helpless. 
One thousand were slain, two thousand captured, and the rest ran, 
Demosthenes running with the fleetest. But the Sacred Band did 
not flee. They fought till they fell, and it is their heroism which 
has won for the battle of Chaeronea its glory as a struggle for 
liberty. 

The statement that Greek liberty perished on the plain of Chae- 
ronea is misleading. Whenever a Greek state became supreme, 
that supremacy entailed the depression of some states and the 
dependency or subjection of others. But Macedon was regarded 
in Hellas as an outsider. This was a feeling which the southern 
Greeks entertained even in regard to Thessaly; and Macedonia, 
politically and historically as well as geographically, was some 
steps farther away than Thessaly. And, in the second place, Mace- 
donian supremacy was the triumph of an absolute monarchy over 
free commonwealths, so that the submission of the Greek states to 
Macedon 's king might be rhetorically branded as an enslavement 
to a tyrant. For these reasons the tidings of Chaeronea sent a new 
kind of thrill through Greece. 

15. The Congress of the Greeks. — Philip treated Thebes 
harshly. He punished by death or confiscation his leading oppo- 
nents; he established a Macedonian garrison in the Cadmea, and 
broke up the Boeotian league, giving all the cities their indepen- 
dence, and restoring the dismantled towns of Orchomenus and 
Plataea. But his dealing with Athens was usually lenient. The 
x 



306 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

truth was that Athens did not lie defenseless at his feet. The sea 
power of Athens saved her, and not less, perhaps, the respect 
which Philip always felt for her intellectual eminence. Now, at 
last, by unexpected leniency, he might win what he had always 
striven for, the moral and material support of Athens. And in 
Athens the policy of Demosthenes had failed, and all desired to 
recover the two thousand captives and avert an invasion of Attic 
soil. Philip offered to restore all the prisoners without ransom 
and not to march into Attica. The Athenians on their side were 
to dissolve what remained of their confederacy, and join the new 
Hellenic union which Philip proposed to organize. In regard to 
territory, Oropus was to be given to Athens, but the Chersonesus 
was to be surrendered to Macedonia. On these terms peace was 
concluded. 

It was now necessary for Macedonia to win the recognition of her 
supremacy from the Peloponnesian states. Philip marched him- 
self into Peloponnesus, and met with no resistance. Sparta alone 
refused to submit, and suffered at the hands of Philip what she had 
before suffered at the hands of Epaminondas — the devastation 
of Laconia and the diminution of her territory. Having thus dis- 
played his arms and power in the south, the Macedonian king in- 
vited all the Greek states within Thermopylae to send delegates to 
a congress at Corinth; and, with the sole exception of Sparta, all 
the states obeyed. 

It was a federal congress: the first assembly of an Hellenic 
confederacy, of which the place of meeting was to be Corinth and 
Macedonia the head. The aim of the confederacy was understood 
from the first; but it would seem that it was not till the second 
meeting, a year later, that Philip announced his resolve to make 
war upon Persia, in behalf of Greece and her gods, to liberate the 
Greek cities of Asia, and to punish the barbarians for the acts of 
sacrilege which their forefathers had wrought in the days of 
Xerxes. It was the formal announcement that a new act in 
the eternal struggle between Europe and Asia was about to 



DEATH OF PHILIP 307 

begin. The federal gathering voted for the war, and elected 
Philip general with supreme powers. It was arranged what 
contingents in men or ships each city should contribute to the 
Panhellenic army; the Athenians undertook to send a consider- 
able fleet. 

But the new league did not unite the Greeks in the sense in which 
Isocrates hoped for their union. There was no zeal for the aims of 
the northern power, no faith in her as the guide and leader of 
Greece. The interests of the Greek communities remained as 
isolated and particular as ever. The peace which the league stipu- 
lated could not be maintained without some military stations in 
the midst of the country; and Philip established three Macedonian 
garrisons at important points: at Ambracia to watch the west, at 
Corinth to hold the Peloponnesus in check, and at Chalcis to con- 
trol northeastern Greece. 

16. Death of Philip. — In the spring, after the congress, his 
preparations for war were nearly complete, and he sent forward an 336 e.c. 
advance force under Parmenio and other generals to secure the 
passage of the Hellespont and win a footing in the Troad and 
Bithynia. The rest of the army was soon to follow under his own 
command. But Olympias, his wife, offended at his too open 
infidelities, sought to avenge herself, and a tool was easily found. 
A certain Pausanias, an obscure man of no merit, was madly in- 
censed against the king, who refused to do him justice. One day 
as Philip in solemn procession entered the theater a little in ad- 
vance of his guards, Pausanias rushed forward with a dagger and 
laid him a corpse at the gate. The assassin was caught and killed, 
but the true assassin was Olympias. 

To none of the world's great rulers has history done less justice 
than to Philip. The overwhelming greatness of a son greater than 
himself has overshadowed him and drawn men's eyes to achieve- 
ments which could never have been wrought but for Philip's life- 
time of toil. In the second place, we depend for our knowledge 
of Philip's work almost entirely on the Athenian orators, and 



308 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 

especially on Demosthenes, whose main object was to misrepresent 
the king. Thus through chance, through the malignant eloquence 
of his opponent, who has held the ears of posterity, and through 
the very results of his own deeds, the maker and expander of 
Macedonia, the conqueror of Thrace and Greece, has hardly held 
his due place in the history of the world. The work of Alexander 
is the most authentic testimony to the work of Philip. 

It is part of the injustice to Philip that the history of Greece 
during his reign has so often been treated as little more than a biog- 
raphy of Demosthenes. Only his political opponents would deny 
that Demosthenes was the most eloquent of orators and the most 
patriotic of citizens. But that oratory in which he excelled was 
one of the curses of Greek politics. The art of persuasive speech 
is indispensable in a free commonwealth, and, when it is wielded 
by a statesman or a general, — a Pericles, a Cleon, or a Xeno- 
phon, — is a noble as well as useful instrument. But once it 
ceases to be a merely auxiliary art, it becomes dangerous and hurt- 
ful. This is what happened at Athens. Orators took the place of 
statesmen, and Demosthenes was the most eminent of the class. 
They could all formulate striking phrases of profound political 
wisdom; but their school-taught lore did not carry them far 
against the craft of theMacedonian statesman. The men of mighty 
words were as children in the hands of the man of mighty deeds. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 90-91) 

1. The Rise of Macedonia. 

Wheeler, B. I., Alexander, 14-18, 64-80. Holm, III, 200-206. 

2. Philip II. of Macedonia. 

Oman, Greece, 491-507. Bury, 683-688, 701-718. Holm, III, 263- 
274. 



REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 309 

3. Triumph of Philip. 

Holm, III, 281-286. Bury, 733-738. Oman, 508-520. 
A difficult but suggestive topic for which some reading in the sources 
may be assigned is Demosthenes and Philip. General references: 
Curtius, V, iii. Holm, III, 1 76-191, 208-214. 
Sources. Plutarch, Demosthenes. Selections from the orations of De- 
mosthenes. Jennings and Johnston, Half-hours with Greek and 
Latin Authors. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

i. Alexander in Greece and Thrace. — On his accession to the 
throne of Macedon, Alexander found himself menaced by enemies 
on all sides. The members of the confederacy of Corinth, the 
tributary peoples of the province of Thrace, the inveterately hostile 
Illyrians, all saw in the death of Philip an opportunity, not to be 
missed, for undoing his work; and in Asia, Attalus, the father of 
Cleopatra, espoused the claim of Cleopatra's infant son. Alex- 
ander encountered these perils one after another, and overcame 
them all. 

First of all, he turned to Greece, where Athens had hailed the 
news of Philip's death with undisguised joy, and at the instance 
of Demosthenes had passed a decree in honor of his murderer's 
memory. Ambracia expelled her Macedonian garrison, and 
Thebes attempted to expel hers. Of far greater importance was 
the insurrection of Thessaly, for the Thessalian cavalry was an 
invaluable adjunct to the Macedonian army. 

Alexander advanced to the defile of Tempe, but found it strongly 
held by the Thessalians. Cutting steps up the steep side of Ossa, 
he made a new path for himself over the mountain and descended 
into the plain of the Peneus behind his enemy. Not a drop of 
blood was shed. A Thessalian assembly elected Alexander to 
the archonship, and he guaranteed to the communities of the land 
the same rights and privileges which they had enjoyed under his 
father. At Thermopylae the young king was recognized by the 
amphictiony, and as he marched southward not a hand was raised 
against him; he had swooped down so quickly that nothing was 

310 



ALEXANDER IN GREECE AND THRACE 31 1 

ready to resist. The Athenians sent a repentant embassy; and 

the congress of the confederacy met at Corinth to elect Alexander 336 b.c. 

general in his father's place. 

Alexander was chosen supreme general of the Greeks for the in- 
vasion of Asia ; and it was as head of Hellas, descendant and suc- 
cessor of Achilles, rather than as Macedonian king, that he desired 
to go forth against Persia. The contingents which the Greek states 




Alexander the Great (British Museum) 

furnished as members of the league were small, yet the vote, 
however perfunctory, which elected him leader of the Greeks, was 
the fitting prelude to the expansion of Hellas and the diffusion 
of Hellenic civilization, which destiny had chosen him to accom- 
plish. He was thus formally recognized as what he in fullest 
verity was, the representative of Greece. 



312 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

There were symptoms of disquietude in Thrace; there were signs 
of a storm brewing in the Illyrian quarter; and it would have 
been impossible for the young king to invade Asia, with Thrace 
ready to revolt in his rear, and Macedonia exposed to attack from 
the west. Accordingly, he spent the spring of the following year 
in subduing unruly tribes in northern Thrace. As he marched 
homeward news reached him that the Illyrians were on the fron- 
tier, and by a swift march he met and defeated them near Pelion. 

Even as the tidings of the Illyrian danger had reached him before 
he left Thrace, so now, while he was still in the heart of Illyria, the 
news came that Thebes had rebelled. 

As the patriots had often prayed for the death of Philip, so now 
they longed for the death of his youthful son. Rumors soon spread 
that the wish was fulfilled. Alexander was reported to have been 
slain in Thrace; and the Theban fugitives in Athens hastened to 
return to their native city and incite it to shake off the Macedonian 
yoke. Two captains of the garrison were caught outside the Cad- 
mea and murdered, and the Thebans then proceeded to blockade 
the citadel. Greece responded to the Theban leading. The hopes 
of the patriots ran high ; the fall of the Cadmea seemed inevitable. 

Suddenly a report was whispered in Thebes that a Macedonian 
army was encamped a few miles away at Onchestus. As Alex- 
ander was dead, it could only be Antipater — so the Theban leaders 
assured the alarmed people. But it was, indeed, the king Alex- 
ander. In less than two weeks he had marched from Pelion to 
Onchestus, and on the next day he stood before the walls of Thebes. 
Alexander waited to give the Thebans time to make submission, 
but they attacked first. Next day, a skirmish led to a general 
assault. The city was taken and a merciless butchery began. Six 
thousand lives were taken before Alexander stayed the slaughter. 
On the next day, he summoned the confederates of Corinth to de- 
cide the fate of the rebellious city. The sentence was that the city 
should be leveled with the dust and her land divided among the 
confederates; that the inhabitants should be sold into bondage; 



PREPARATIONS FOR ALEXANDER'S EXPEDITION 313 

and that the Cadmean citadel should be occupied by a garrison. 
The severe doom was carried out; and among the ruined habita- 
tions only one solitary house stood, the house of Pindar, which 
Alexander expressly spared. 

The Boeotian cities were at length delivered from the yoke of their 
imperious mistress ; and the fall of Thebes promptly checked all 
other movements in Greece. When the news reached Athens, 
which a few days before had voted aid. to Thebes, the festival of 
the Mysteries was interrupted, and in a hurried meeting of the 
Assembly it was resolved, on the proposal of Demades, to send 
an embassy to congratulate Alexander. Alexander demanded — - 
and it was a fair demand — that Demosthenes and Lycurgus and 
the other anti-Macedonian agitators should be delivered to him. 
But it was decided that Demades should accompany another em- 
bassy and beg that the offenders might be left to the justice of the 
Athenian people. Alexander, still anxious to show every con- 
sideration to Athens, withdrew his demand, insisting only on the 
banishment of the adventurer Charidemus. 

With the fall of Thebes Alexander's campaigns in Europe came to 
an end. The rest of his life was spent in Asia. The European 
campaigns, though they filled little more than a year, and though 
they seem of small account by the side of his triumphs in the east, 
were brilliant and important enough to have won historical fame 
for any general. 

2. Preparations for Alexander's Persian Expedition. Condi- 
tion of Persia. — Having spent the winter in making his military 
preparations and setting in order the affairs of his kingdom for a 
long absence, Alexander set forth in spring for the conquest of 
Persia. His purpose was to conquer the Persian kingdom, to 334 B -c- 
dethrone the Great King and take his place. To carry out this 
design, the first thing needful was to secure Thrace in the rear, and 
that had been done already. In the conquest itself there were 
three* stages. The first step was the conquest of Asia Minor; 
the second was the conquest of Syria and Egypt; and these two 



314 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

conquests, preliminary to the advance on Babylon and Susa, 
would mean not merely acquisitions of territory, but strategic 
bases for further conquest. 

To secure Macedonia during his absence, Alexander was obliged 
to leave a large portion of his army behind him. The government 
was intrusted to his father's minister, Antipater. It is said that 
the king before his departure divided all his royal domains and 
forests and revenues among his friends; and, when Perdiccas 
asked what was left for himself, he replied, Hope. Then Per- 
diccas, rejecting his own portion, exclaimed, "We who go forth 
to fight with you need share only in your hope." 

The Persian empire was weak and loosely knit, and it was gov- 
erned now by a feeble monarch. Artaxerxes Ochus, who had 
338 b.c. displayed more strength than his predecessors, was assassinated; 

and after two or three years of confusion the throne passed to a 
distant member of the Achaemenid house, Darius Codomannus. 
If Darius had been able and experienced in war, he would have 
had some enormous advantages. In the first place, he had the 
advantage in the sheer weight of human bodies. In the second 
place, the Great King commanded untold wealth. In the third 
place, he had a navy which controlled the seaboard of Asia Minor, 
Syria, and Egypt. And fourthly, although there was no cen- 
tralization or unity in the vast empire, there was, for that very 
reason, little or no national discontent in the provinces. But 
multitudes were useless without a leader, and money could not 
create brains. Moreover, Persia was behind the age in the art of 
warfare. The only lesson which the day of Cunaxa had taught 
her was to hire mercenary Greeks. 

The strength of the army which Alexander led forth against 
Persia is said to have been thirty thousand foot and five thousand 
horse, thus preserving the large proportion of cavalry to infantry, 
which was one of the chief novelties of Philip's military establish- 
ment. We have seen how Philip organized the national army of 
Macedonia, in the chief divisions of the phalanx, the light infantry 



CONQUEST OF ASIA MINOR 315 

or hypaspists, and the heavy cavalry. Alexander led to Asia six 
regiments of the phalanx, and in the great engagements which de- 
cided the fate of Persia, these formed the center of his array. They 
were supported by Greek hoplites, both mercenary and confederate. 
The hypaspists, led by Nicanor, son of Parmenio, had their station 
on the right wing. Philotas, another son of Parmenio, was com- 
mander of the heavy cavalry, in eight squadrons. This Mace- 
donian cavalry was always placed on the right, while on the left 
rode the splendid Thessalian cavalry. Both the right and the 
left wings were strengthened by light troops, horse and foot, ac- 
coutered according to their national habit, from Thrace, Paeonia, 
and other countries of the Illyrian peninsula. 

3. Conquest of Asia Minor. — The fleet transported the army 
from Sestos to Abydus, while Alexander himself sailed across to 
the "Harbor of the Achaeans." The first to leap upon theMysian 
strand, he crossed the plain of Troy and went up to the hill of Ilion. 
It is said that he dedicated his own panoply in the shrine, and took 
down from the wall some ancient armor, preserved there as a relic 
of the Trojan War. He sacrificed to Priam to avert his anger from 
one of the race of Neoptolemus; he crowned the tomb of Achilles, 
his ancestor; and his bosom-friend Hephaestion cast a garland 
upon the grave of Patroclus, the beloved of Achilles. These 
solemnities on the hill of Troy are significant as revealing the spirit 
which the young king carried into his enterprise. 

Meanwhile, the satraps of the Great King had formed an army 
of about forty thousand men to defend Asia Minor. Darius com- 
mitted the characteristic blunder of a Persian monarch, and con- 
signed the army to the joint command of a number of generals, 
including Memnon, the Rhodian, and several of the western satraps. 
The Persian commanders were jealous of the Greek, and against 
his advice they decided to risk a battle at once. Accordingly, they 
advanced to the plain of Adrastea, through which the river Gra- 
nicus flows into the Propontis, and posted themselves on the steep 
left bank of the stream, so as to hinder the enemy from crossing. 



316 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

They had made the curious disposition of placing their cavalry 
along the river bank and the Greek hoplites on the slopes behind. 
As cavalry in attack has a great advantage over cavalry in defense, 
Alexander saw that the victory could best be won by throwing his 
own squadrons against the hostile line. Drawing up his army in 
the usual way, with the six regiments of the phalanx in the center, 
intrusting the left wing to Parmenio and commanding the right 
himself, he first sent across the river his light cavalry to keep the 
extreme left of the enemy engaged, and then led his heavy Mace- 
donian cavalry against the Persian center. Alexander himself 
was in the thickest of the fight, dealing wounds and receiving 
blows. After a sharp engagement on the steep banks, the Persian 
cavalry was broken and put to flight. The phalanx then advanced 
across the river against the Greek hoplites in the background, while 
the victorious cavalry cut them up on the flanks. 
May-June, This victory was very far from laying Asia Minor at the con- 

334 B -c queror's feet. There were strong places, which must be taken 

one by one — strong places on the coast, which could be supported 
by the powerful Persian fleet. Of all things, the aid of the Athe- 
nian navy would have best helped Alexander now, and he did not 
yet despair. After the skirmish of the Granicus, when he di- 
vided the spoil, he sent three hundred Persian panoplies to Athens, 
as an offering to Athena on the Acropolis, with this dedication: 
" Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks (except the Lacedae- 
monians), from the barbarians of Asia." But Athens had no zeal 
for the cause of the Greeks and Alexander against the barbarians. 
The victor marched southward to occupy Lydia and Sardis. 
The citadel was strong, but it now passed with its treasures un- 
resistingly into the hands of the Greek conqueror. For this 
prompt submission the Lydians received their freedom. Parme- 
nio's brother, Asander, was appointed satrap of Lydia, and Alex- 
ander turned to deal with the Ionian cities. Here the democrats 
welcomed the Greek deliverer; but the oligarchs supported the 
Persian cause, and wherever they were in power, admitted Per- 




w 
p 

< 

w 

< 

o 
w 

H 
P 

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317 



3l8 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

sian garrisons. In Ephesus, on the approach of Alexander's 
army, the people began to massacre the oligarchs. Alexander 
pacified these troubles and established a democratic constitution. 
The next stage in his advance was Miletus, and here for the first 
time he encountered resistance. As soon as he captured it, he 
disbanded his fleet, and proceeded to blockade the sea by seizing 
all the strong places on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. 
The execution of this design occupied him for the next two years, 
but it brought with it the conquest of Asia Minor, Syria, and 
Egypt. 

As for Asia Minor, the next and the hardest task was the reduc- 
tion of Caria and the capture of Halicarnassus. The remnant 
of the host which fled from the Granicus, and the RhodianMemnon 
himself, had rallied here. The Great King had now intrusted to 
Memnon the general command of the fleet and the coasts, and 
Memnon had dug a deep ditch round Halicarnassus and furnished 
the place with food for a long siege. Alexander filled up the moat 
and brought his towers and engines against the walls. A breach 
was made on the northeast side, but Alexander, who hoped to 
induce the town to surrender, forbore to order an attack, and more 
than once called back his men from storming. At length Memnon 
saw that the prospect of holding out longer was hopeless, and he 
determined to withdraw the garrison to the royal fortress on the 
island in the harbor. He fired the city at night before he withdrew, 
and the place was in flames when the Macedonians entered. 

The cold season was approaching, and Alexander divided his 
army into two bodies, one of which he sent under Parmenio to 
winter in Lydia, while he advanced himself with the other into 
Lycia. He gave leave to a few young officers who had been recently 
wedded to return home, charging them with the duty of bringing 
reinforcements. Alexander met with no resistance from the cities 
of the Lycian league, and he left the constitution of the confed- 
eracy intact. He advanced along the coast of Pamphylia, and 
turning inland from Perge, fought his way through the Pisidian 



CONQUEST OF ASIA MINOR 



319 



hills. He descended to Celaenae, the strong and lofty citadel of the 
Phrygian satrapy, and leaving a garrison there, he marched on to 
Gordion on the Sangarius, the capital of the ancient kingdom of 
Phrygia. 

At Gordion, the appointed mustering-place, Alexander's army Spring, 
reunited, and new troops arrived from Macedonia to replace 333 B,c * 
those who had been left to garrison the subjugated countries and 
cities. On the citadel of Gordion stood the remains of the royal 
palaces of Gordius and Midas, and Alexander went up the hill 
to see the chariot of Gordius and the famous knot which fastened 
the yoke. Cord of the bark of a cornel tree was tied in a knot 
which artfully concealed the ends, and there was an oracle that 
he who should loose it would rule over Asia. Alexander vainly 
attempted to untie it, and then drawing his sword cut the knot 
and so fulfilled the oracle. From Gordion Alexander marched by 
Ancyra into Cappadocia, and thence southward to Tyana and the 
Cilician gates, which he 
seized by surprise, and 
moved so rapidly on 
Tarsus that the satrap 
Arsames fled without 
striking a blow. 

Here a misadventure 
happened which well- 
nigh changed the course 
of history. After a long 
ride under a burning 

sun, the king, bathing in the cool waters of the Cydnus, caught 
a chill which resulted in violent fever, and his physicians de- 
spaired of his life. But Philip of Acarnania recommended a 
certain purgative. As he was preparing the draught in the 
king's tent, a letter was placed in Alexander's hands, alleging 
that Darius had bribed Philip to poison his master. Alexander, 
taking the cup, gave Philip the letter to read, and, while Philip 





Silver Coin of Tarsus. Obverse: En- 
throned Zeus [Aramaic Legend: Baal 
Tars]. Reverse: Lion [Obscure Le- 
gend] 



320 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

read, Alexander swallowed the medicine. His confidence was 
justified, and under the treatment he soon recovered. 

4. Battle of Issus. — The Great King had already crossed the 
Euphrates at the head of a vast host. Alexander did not hurry 
to the encounter, but sending forward Parmenio with part of the 
army to secure the passes from Cilicia into Syria, he himself turned 
to subdue the hillfolk of western Cilicia. He then returned east- 
ward, and advanced to Issus under Mount Amanus. Darius was 
on the other side of the mountains, on ground which was highly 
favorable for deploying his host. There w r ere two roads from 
Issus into Syria. One led directly over difficult mountain-passes, 
while the other wound along the coast to Myriandros and then 
crossed Mount Amanus. The second road, along which Cyrus and 
Xenophon had marched, was now chosen by Alexander. Leaving 
his sick at Issus, he marched forward to Myriandros, but was 
detained there by a violent storm. The Great King expected every 
day to see Alexander descending from the mountains; and when 
he came not, owing to the delays in Cilicia, it was thought that he 
did not venture to desert the coast. Accordingly, Darius and his 
nobles decided to seek Alexander. The Persian army crossed the 
northern passes of Amanus, thus coming between Alexander and 
his base. Reaching Issus, they tortured and put to death the sick 
who had been left behind. Alexander cannot be blamed for this 
disaster, for he could not foresee that his enemies would abandon 
the open position in which their numerical superiority would tell 
for a confined place where the movements of a multitude would 
be cramped. To Alexander the tidings that Darius was at Issus 
were too good to be true, and he sent a boat to reconnoiter. When 
he was assured that the enemy had thus played into his hands, he 
marched back from Myriandros through the sea-gates into the 
little plain of Issus. 
Oct., 333 b.c. The plain of Issus is cut in two by the stream of the Pinarus. 
Here, as at the Granicus, it fell to Alexander to attack the Persians, 
who had themselves no plan of attack; and here, as there, the Per- 



BATTLE OF ISSUS 



321 



:'i : -Vf*:- 






PERSIAN ARMY 
A. Greek hoplites. B. Cavalrff. 
_-!>'7:- C.C. Oriental huplites (kardakes) 
tSjZ'- P: D. . Other Asiatic light tro<>ps. 



1 Hr S 



sians were defended by the natural intrenchment of a steep- 
banked river. The Macedonian columns defiled into the plain at 
dawn, and when Darius learned that they were approaching, he 
threw across the river 
squadrons of cavalry and 
light troops to cover the 
rest of the army while it 
arrayed itself for battle. 
The whole front was com- 
posed of hoplites, includ- 
ing thirty thousand Greek 
mercenaries; the left wing 
touched the lower slopes 
of the mountains and 
curved round, following 
the line of the hill, so as to 
face the flank of the ene- 




Battle of Issus 



right wing. When 



my's 

the array was formed, the cavalry was recalled to the north of 
the river, and posted on the right wing, near the sea, where the 
ground was best adapted for cavalry movements. 

Alexander advanced, his army drawn up on the usual plan, the 
phalanx in the center, the hypaspists on the right. In order to 
meet the danger which threatened the flank and rear of his right 
wing from the Persian forces on the slope of the mountain, he 
placed a column of light troops on the extreme right, to form a 
second front. As in the engagement on the Granicus, the attack 
was to be made by the heavy cavalry on the left center of the 
enemy's line. But it was a far more serious and formidable venture, 
since Darius had thirty thousand Greek mercenaries who knew 
how to stand and to fight. And if Alexander was defeated, his 
retreat was cut off. 

The Persian left did not sustain Alexander's onset at the head of 
his cavalry. The phalanx followed more slowly, and in crossing 

Y 



322 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

the stream and climbing the steep bank the line became broken, 
especially at one spot, and the Greek hoplites pressed them hard 
on the river-brink. If the phalanx had been driven back, Alexan- 
der's victorious right wing would have been exposed on the flank 
and the battle lost; but the phalangites stood their ground obsti- 
nately, until the hypaspists were free to come to their help by taking 
their adversaries in the flank. Meanwhile, Alexander's attack had 
been directed upon the spot where the Great King himself stood 
in his war-chariot, surrounded by a guard of Persian nobles. There 
was a furious struggle, in which Alexander was wounded in the leg. 
Then Darius turned his chariot and fled, and this was the signal for 
an universal flight on the left. On the sea side the Persian cavalry 
crossed the river and carried all before them; but in the midst 
of their success the cry that the king was fleeing made them waver, 
and they were soon riding wildly back, pursued by the Thessalians. 
The whole Persian host was now rushing northward toward the 
passes of Amanus, and thousands fell beneath the swords of their 
pursuers. Darius did not tarry; he forgot even his mother and 
his wife, who were in the camp at Issus ; and when he reached the 
mountain he left his chariot, his shield, and his royal cloak behind 
him, and mounting a swift mare rode for dear life. 

Having pursued the Great King till nightfall, Alexander re- 
turned to the Persian camp. He supped in the tent of Darius, 
and, hearing the wailing of women from a tent hard by, he learned 
that it was the mother and wife and children of the fugitive king. 
They had been told that Alexander had returned with the shield 
and cloak of Darius, and supposing that their lord was dead, had 
broken out into lamentation. Alexander sent one of his com- 
panions to comfort them with the assurance that Darius lived, and 
that they would receive all the respect due to royal ladies; for 
Alexander had no personal enmity against Darius. No act of 
Alexander, perhaps, astonished his contemporaries more than this 
generous treatment of the family of his royal rival. 

A city, which still retains the name of Alexander, was built in 



CONQUEST OF SYRIA 323 

commemoration of the battle, at the northern end of the sea-gates. 
The road was now open into Syria. Just as the small fight on the 
Granicus had cleared the way for the acquisition of Asia Minor, 
so the fight on the Pinaros cleared the way for the conquest of 
Syria and Egypt. The rest of the work would consist in tedious 
sieges. But the victory of Issus had, beyond its immediate results, 
immense importance through the prestige which it conferred on 
the victor. He had defeated an army ten times as great as his 
own, led by the Great King in person; he had captured the 
mother of the Great King, and his wife and his children. Darius 
himself made the first overtures to the conqueror. He wrote a 
letter, in which he complained that Alexander was an unprovoked 
aggressor, begged that he would send back the royal captives, 
and professed willingness to conclude a treaty of friendship and 
alliance. Such a condescending appeal required a stern reply. 
"I have overcome in battle," wrote Alexander, "first thy generals 
and satraps, and now thyself and thine host, and possess thy land, 
through the grace of the gods. I am lord of all Asia, and there- 
fore do thou come to me. If thou art afraid of being evilly en- 
treated, send some of thy friends to receive sufficient guarantees. 
Thou hast only to come to me to ask and receive thy mother and 
wife and children, and whatever else thou mayest desire. And for 
the future, whenever thou sendest, send to me as to the Great King 
of Asia, and do not write as to an equal, but tell me whatever thy 
need be, as to one who is lord of all that is thine. But if thou 
disputest the kingdom, then wait and fight for it again, and do 
not flee; for I will march against thee wherever thou mayest be." 
5. Conquest of Syria. — After Issus, Alexander might have 
pursued Darius into the heart of Persia, and crushed him before 
he could collect another army. He showed his greatness by pro- 
ceeding in a more systematic manner. As Asia Minor had to be 
subdued before Syria and Egypt could be won, so Syria and Egypt 
had to be subjugated before he attempted to conquer Mesopotamia. 
And in Syria his most important objective was the Phoenician towns. 



324 



THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 



Jan. -July, 
332 B.C. 




Silver Coin of Sidon (? 374-62 B.C.). Ob- 
verse: Galley in Front of City-wall; 
below Two Lions. Reverse: King and 
Charioteer in Chariot; below Goat (In- 
cuse) 



These cities — Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus — had never stood to- 
gether, and Sidon, having revolted, was burned by Artaxerxes 
Ochus. Now Aradus and Byblus, which replaced Sidon, sub- 
mitted at once to 
Alexander, while Tyre 
held out. 

Alexander ad- 
vanced southward 
toward Tyre. But 
the men of Tyre felt 
secure on their island 
rock, which was pro- 
tected by eighty 
ships, apart from a 
squadron which was 
absent in the ^Egean, 
and they refused to "receive either Persian or Macedonian 
into the city." To subdue Tyre was an absolute necessity, as 
Alexander explained to a council. It was not safe to advance to 
Egypt, or to pursue Darius, while the Persians were lords of the 
sea; and the only way of wresting their sea power from them 
was to capture Tyre, the most important naval station on the 
coast; once Tyre fell, the Phoenician fleet, which was the most 
numerous and strongest part of the Persian navy, would come over 
to Macedon, for the rowers would not row or the men fight when 
they had no habitations to row or fight for. The reduction of 
Cyprus and Egypt would then follow without trouble. Alexander 
grasped and never let go the fact that Tyre was the key to the 
whole situation. 

But the siege of Tyre was perhaps the hardest military task that 
Alexander's genius ever encountered. The city, girt by huge 
walls, stood on an island across a sound of more than half a mile 
in width. On the side which faced the mainland were the two 
harbors: the northern or Sidonian harbor with a narrow mouth, 



CONQUEST OF SYRIA 



325 



and the southern or Egyptian. For an enemy, vastly inferior at 
sea, there was only one way to set about the siege. Those thousand 
yards of water must be bridged over and the isle annexed to the 
mainland. Without hesitation Alexander began the building of 
the causeway. The first part of the work was easy, for the water 
was shallow; but when the mole approached the island, the strait 
deepened, and the difficulties of the task began. Triremes issued 
from the havens to shoot missiles at the workers. To protect them, 
Alexander erected two towers on the causeway, and mounted 
engines on the towers to 
reply to the missiles from 
the galleys. He attached 
to these wooden towers 
curtains of leather to 
screen both towers and 
workmen from the projec- 
tiles which were hurled 
from the city-walls. But 
the men of Tyre were in- 
genious. They constructed 
a fire-ship filled with dry 
wood and inflammables, 
and, choosing a day on 
which a favorable wind 
blew, they towed it close 

to the dam and set it on fire. The device succeeded; the burn- 
ing vessel soon wrapt the towers and all the engines in flames. 
Alexander then widened the causeway throughout its whole length, 
so that it could accommodate more towers and engines, before he 
attempted to complete it. He saw that it would be needful to 
support his operations from the causeway by operations from ship- 
board; and he went to Sidon to bring up a few galleys which were 
stationed there. But at this moment the squadrons of Aradus and 
Byblus, which were acting in the i^gean, learning that their cities 




Siege of Tyre 



326 



THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 





had submitted to Alexander, left the fleet and sailed to Sidon. 
The kings of Cyprus also joined Alexander, and reenforced the 
fleet at Sidon by one hundred and twenty ships. With a fleet of 
about two hundred and fifty triremes at his command, Alexander 
was now far stronger at sea than the merchants of Tyre. 

During the siege Alexander received an embassy from the Great 
King, offering an immense ransom for the captives of the royal 

house, and the surrender 
of all the lands west of 
the Euphrates; propos- 
ing also that Alexander 
should marry the daugh- 
ter of Darius and become 
his ally. The message 
was discussed in a coun- 
cil, and Parmenio said 
that if he were Alexan- 
der, he would accept the 
terms. "And I," said the king, "would accept them if I were 
Parmenio." 

From Sidon Alexander bore down upon Tyre with his whole fleet, 
hoping to entice the Tyrians into an engagement. When the fleet 
hove in sight, the men of Tyre, seeing that they had no chance 
against so many, drew up their triremes in close array to block the 
mouths of their harbors. Alexander set the Cyprian vessels on the 
north side of the mole to blockade the Sidonian harbor, and the 
Phoenician on the south side to blockade the Egyptian harbor. 
It was opposite this harbor, on the mainland, that his own pavilion 
was placed. 

The mole had now been carried up to the island, and all was ready 
for a grand attack on the eastern wall. Some of the engines were 
placed on the mole, others on transport ships or superannuated 
galleys. But little impression was made on the wall, which on this 
side was one hundred and fifty feet high and enormously thick; 



Silver Coin of Tyre (331 B.C.). Ob- 
verse: Melkart with Bow on Sea- 
horse; Waves; Dolphin. Reverse: 
Owl with Crook and Flail (Egyptian 
Emblems of Royalty) 



CONQUEST OF SYRIA 327 

and the besieged replied to the attack with volleys of fiery missiles 
from powerful engines, which were mounted on their lofty battle- 
ments. All attacks on this wall failed; but in a sally made to 
surprise the Cyprian squadron, the Tyrians after a moment of 
success had their fleet completely put out of further action. Finally 
the efforts of the besiegers were united upon the south side near the 
Egyptian harbor. Here, at length, a bit of the wall was torn down, 
and though the Tyrians easily repelled the attack, it showed Alex- 
ander the weak spot, and two days later he prepared a grand and 
supreme assault. 

The vessels with the siege-engines were set to work at the southern 
wall, while two triremes waited hard by, one filled with hypaspists 
under Admetus, the other with a phalanx regiment, ready as soon 
as the wall yielded to hurl their crews into the breach. Ships were 
stationed in front of the two havens, to force their way in at a 
favorable moment, and the rest of the fleet, manned with light 
troops and furnished with engines, were disposed at various 
points round the island, to embarrass and bewilder the besieged 
and hinder them from concentrating at the main point of attack. 
A wide breach was made, the two triremes were rowed up to the 
spot, the bridges were lowered, and the hypaspists, Admetus at 
their head, first mounted the wall. Admetus was pierced with a 
lance, but Alexander took his place, and drove back the Tyrians 
from the breach. Tower after tower was captured; soon all the 
southern wall was in the hands of the Macedonians. But the city 
had already been entered from other points. The chains of both 
the Sidonian and the Egyptian harbors had been burst by the 
Cyprian and Phoenician squadrons; the Tyrian ships had been 
disabled; and the troops had pressed into the town. Eight thou- 
sand inhabitants are said to have been slain, and the rest, about 
thirty thousand, were sold into slavery, with the exception of the 
king, Azemilco. 

The fall of Tyre gave Alexander Syria and Egypt and the naval 
supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean. The communities of 



328 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

Syria and Palestine, that had not submitted, like Damascus, after 
the victory of Issus, submitted now after the capture of Tyre, and 
he encountered no resistance in his southern march to Egypt, 
until he came to the great frontier stronghold, Gaza, the city of 
the Philistines. 

Gaza had been committed by Darius to the care of Batis, a 
trusty eunuch, and had been well furnished with provisions for a 
long siege. Batis refused to surrender, trusting in the strength of 
the fortifications, but Alexander could not leave such an important 
post on the line from Damascus to Egypt in the hands of the enemy, 
Oct.-Nov., and after a siege of several weeks, during which he was wounded 
in the shoulder by a dart from a catapult, the place was taken 
and became a Macedonian fortress. 

6. Conquest of Egypt. — Egypt was now absolutely cut off 
from Persia ; Alexander had only to march in. The Persian satrap 
thought only of making his submission and winning the con- 
queror's grace. In Memphis, the capital of the Pharaohs, where 
he was probably proclaimed king, Alexander sacrificed to Apis 
and the other native gods, and thereby won the good-will of the 
people. 

From Memphis he sailed down the river to Canopus, and took 
a step which, alone, would have made his name memorable for- 
ever. He chose the ground, east of Rhacotis, between Lake Mare- 
otis and the sea, as the site of a new city, over against the island 
of Pharos, famous in Homeric song, and soon to become more 
famous still as the place of the first lighthouse, one of the seven 
(?) Jan., « wonders of the world. The king is said to have himself traced out 
the ground-plan of Alexandria. He joined the mainland with the 
island by a causeway seven stades (nearly a mile) in length, and 
thus formed two harbors. The subsequent history of Alexandria, 
which has held its position as a port for more than two thousand 
years, proves that its founder had a true eye in choosing the site of 
the most famous of his new cities. Alexandria was intended to take 
the place of Tyre as the commercial center of western Asia and the 



331 B.C. 



BATTLE OF GAUGAMELA 329 

eastern Mediterranean, throwing the trade of the world into a 
port where Greeks would encounter no Phoenician rivalry. 

In the official style of the Egyptian monarchy the Pharaohs were 
sons of Ammon, and as the successor of the Pharaohs Alexander 
assumed the same title. It was therefore necessary in order to regu- 
late his position that an official assurance should be given by 
Ammon himself that Alexander was his son. To obtain this 
Alexander undertook a journey to the oracular sanctuary of Am- 
mon in the oasis of Siwah. And this motive is alone sufficient to 
explain the expedition. But it may well be that in Alexander's 
mind there was a vague notion that there was something divine 
about his own origin. Proceeding along 
the coast to Paraetonion, he was there met 
by envoys who conveyed the submission 
of Cyrene. By this acquisition the western 
frontier of the Macedonian empire ex- 
tended to the border of the Carthaginian 
sphere of rule. Alexander then struck 
across the desert to visit that Egyptian Coin of Cyrene (Ob- 

temple which was most famous in the Greek VERSE) ■ H E A D OF 
r . Zeus Ammon ; Olive 

world, the temple, as it was always called, spray 

of Zeus Ammon. It is said that Alexander 

told no man what he asked the god or what the god replied, save 

only that the answer pleased him. 

7. Battle of Gaugamela, and Conquest of Babylonia. — The new 

lord of Egypt and Syria returned with the spring to Tyre. The 

whole coastland was now in his possession, and he controlled the 

sea; the time had come to advance into the heart of the Persian 

empire. Having spent some months in the Phoenician city, he 

set forth at the head of 40,000 infantry and 7000 horse, and reached 

Thapsacus on the Euphrates at the beginning of August. The 

objective of Alexander was Babylon. He chose the road across 

the north of Mesopotamia and down the Tigris on its eastern bank. 

From some Persian scouts who were captured, it was ascertained 




330 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

that Darius, with a yet larger multitude than that which had suc- 
cumbed at Issus, was on the other side of the river, determined 
to contest the passage. Alexander crossed the Tigris, not 
at Nineveh, the usual place of crossing, but higher up at Bezabde. 

Sept. 20, On the same night the moon went into eclipse, and men anxiously 

331 b.c. sought in the phenomenon a portent. 

Marching southward for some days, Alexander found Darius 
encamped in a plain near Gaugamela on the river Bumodus. 
The numbers of the army were reported at 1,000,000 foot and 
40,000 horse. Before the battle the night was spent by the 
Persians under arms, for their camp was unfortified, and they 
feared a night attack. And a night attack was recommended 
by Parmenio, but Alexander preferred to trust the issue to his 
own generalship and the superior discipline of his troops. He 
said to Parmenio, "I do not steal victory," and under the 
gallantry of this reply he concealed, in his usual manner, the 
prudence and policy of his resolve. A victory over the Persian 
host, won in the open field in the light of day, would have a far 
greater effect in establishing his prestige in Asia. 

The Great King, according to wont, was in the center of the 
Persian array, surrounded by his kinsfolk and his Persian body- 
guard. On either side of them were Greek mercenaries, Indian 
auxiliaries with a few elephants, and Carians whose ancestors 
had been settled in upper Asia. The center was strengthened 
and deepened by a second line. On the left were men from Susa, 
from the Caspian, from Arachosia and Bactria, covered by one 
hundred scythe-armed chariots and Bactrian and Scythian cavalry. 
On the right were Hyrcanians and Parthians, the Medes and 
dwellers in Mesopotamia, with other Caucasian folks. 

Against this host, of which the cavalry alone is said to have 
been as numerous as all the infantry of the enemy, Alexander 
descended the hill in the morning. On his left wing — commanded 
as usual by Parmenio — were the cavalry of the Thessalian and 
confederate Greeks ; in the center the six regiments of the phalanx ; 



BATTLE OF GAUGAMELA 33 1 

and on the right, the hypaspists, and the eight squadons of the 
Companions, the royal squadron of Clitus being at the extreme 
right. Covering the right wing were some light troops, spear- 
throwers and archers. The line was far outflanked on both sides 
by the enemy, and the danger which Alexander had most to fear, 
as at the battle of Issus, was that of being attacked in rear or 
flank; only that here both wings were in peril. He sought to 
meet these contingencies by forming behind each wing a second 
line, which, by facing round a quarter or half circle, could meet an 
attack on flank or rear. 

As he advanced, Alexander and his right wing were opposite 
the center of the enemy's line, and he was outflanked by the 
whole length of the enemy's left. He therefore bore obliquely to 
the right, and, even when the Scythian horsemen, riding forward, 
came into contact with his own light troops, he continued to move 
his squadrons of heavy cavalry in the same direction. The Mace- 
donians were thus moving off the ground, which had been leveled 
for the scythe-chariots, and Darius ordered a flank charge to check 
them. Alexander's Greek mercenaries with difficulty held off 
the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, and, meanwhile, the scythed 
cars were loosed upon the Macedonian ranks. But the archers 
shot down horses and drivers, and the hypaspists, opening their 
order, let the chariots rattle harmlessly by. 

The whole Persian line was now advancing to attack, and Alex- 
ander was waiting for the moment to deliver his cavalry charge. 
He had to send his mounted pikemen to the help of the light 
cavalry, who were being hard pressed on the right by the Scythians 
and Bactrians; and as a counter-check to this reenforcement, 
squadrons of Persian cavalry were despatched to the assistance of 
their fellows. By the withdrawal of these squadrons a gap was 
caused in the left Persian wing, and into this gap Alexander 
plunged at the head of his cavalry column and split the line in 
two. Thus the left side of the enemy's center was exposed, and 
turning obliquely Alexander charged into its ranks. Meanwhile, 



332 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

the bristling phalanx was moving forward and was soon engaged in 
close combat with another part of the Persian center. The storm 
of battle burst with wildest fury round the spot where the Persian 
king was trembling, and what befell at Issus befell again at Gau- 
gamela. The Great King turned his chariot and fled. His Per- 
sians fled with him, and swept along in their flight the troops who 
had been posted in the rear. 

Meanwhile, Parmenio was hard pressed. The troops of the ex- 
treme Persian right had attacked his cavalry in the flank or rear. 
Parmenio sent a messenger entreating aid, and Alexander desisted 
from the pursuit of his fleeing rival. Riding back with his Com- 
panions, he encountered a large body of cavalry, Persians, Par- 
thians, and Indians, in full retreat, but in orderly array. A 
desperate conflict ensued — perhaps the most fearful in the whole 
battle. Sixty of the Companions fell, but Alexander was again 
victorious and rode on to the help of Parmenio. But Parmenio 
no longer needed his help. Not the least achievement of this 
day of great deeds was the brilliant fighting of the Thessalian 
cavalry, who not only sustained the battle against the odds 
which had wrung from Parmenio the cry for aid, but in the end 
routed their foemen before Alexander could reach the spot. The 
battle was won, and the fate of the Persian empire was decided. 

Alexander lost not a moment in resuming the chase which he 
had abandoned, and, riding eastward throughout the night on the 
tracks of the Persian king, he reached Arbela on the morrow. But 
he did not take the king. Darius fled into the highlands of Media, 
and Ariobarzanes with a host of the routed army hastened south- 
ward to Persia. Alexander pursued his way to Babylon. 

Alexander seems to have expected that the men of Babylon, 
trusting in their mighty walls, would have offered resistance. He 
was disappointed. When he approached the city, with his army 
Oct., 331 b.c. arrayed for action, the gates opened and the Babylonians streamed 
out, led by their priests and their chief men. The satrap Mazoeus, 
who had fought bravely in the recent battle, surrendered the city 



CONQUEST OF SUSIANA AND PERSIS 333 

and citadel. In Babylonia, Alexander followed the same policy 
which he had already followed in Egypt. He appeared as the 
protector of the national religions which had been depressed and 
slighted by the Persian fire-worshipers. He rebuilt the Baby- 
lonian temples which had been destroyed, and above all he com- 
manded the restoration of the marvelous temple of Bel, standing 
on its eight towers, on which the rage of Xerxes had vented itself 
when he returned from the rout of Salamis. The Persian Mazaeus 
was retained in his post as satrap of Babylonia. • 

8. Conquest of Susiana and Persis. — Having rested his army, 
the conqueror advanced southeastward to Susa, the summer Dec, 
residence of the Persian court. In the citadel he found enormous 331 B,G * 
treasures of gold and silver and purple. Among other precious 
things at Susa was the sculptured group of the tyrant-slayers, 
Harmodius and Aristogiton, which Xerxes had carried off from 
Athens; and Alexander had the pleasure of sending back 
to its home this historical monument, now more precious than 
ever. 

Though it was midwinter, Alexander soon left Susa. There 
were immense treasures still in the palaces of Cyrus and Darius 
in the heart of the Persian highlands, and these were guarded not 
only by the difficulties of the mountainous approaches, but by 
the army which Ariobarzanes had rescued from the overthrow of 
Gaugamela. It was no easy task. The storming of the " Persian 
Gates," defended by Ariobarzanes, was one of the most arduous 
tasks that Alexander ever accomplished, yet the pass was carried 
by a surprise march through snow-clad mountains. 

The royal palaces of Persia, to which Alexander now hurried 
with the utmost speed, stood in the valley of Mervdasht, fertile 
then, but desolate at the present day, and close to the city of Istachr, 
which the Persians deemed the oldest city in the world. This 
cradle of the Persian kingdom, to which, city and palace together, 
the Greeks gave the name of Persepolis, was "the richest of all 
the cities under the sun." It is said that one hundred and twenty 



334 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

thousand talents were found in the treasury; an army of mules 
and camels were required to remove the spoils. 

But the most famous incident connected with the four months' 
sojourn at Persepolis is the conflagration of the palace of Xerxes. 
The story is that one night when Alexander and his companions 
had drunk deep at a royal festival, Thais, an Attic courtesan, 
flung out among the tipsy carousers the idea of burning down the 
house of the malignant foe who had burned the temples of Greece. 
The mad words of the woman inspired a wild frenzy, and whirled 
the revelers forth, armed with torches. Alexander hurled the 
first brand, and the cedar woodwork of the palace was soon in 
flames. But before the fire had done its work, the king's head was 
cool, and he commanded the fire to be quenched. 

9. Death of Darius. — In the meantime, King Darius remained 
in Ecbatana, surrounded by the adherents who were faithful to 
him. Media was defensible; he had a large army from the 
northern satrapies; and he had Bactria as a retreat, if retreat he 
must. The spring was advanced when Alexander left Persis for 
Ecbatana. He made all speed, when the news reached him by the 
way, that Darius was at Ecbatana with a large army, prepared to 
fight. But when he drew nigh to the city, he found that Darius 
had flown eastward. At Ecbatana Alexander paid off theThes- 
salian troops and the other Greek confederates; but any who 
chose to enroll themselves anew might stay, and not a few stayed. 

With the main part of the army Alexander hurried on, merci- 
less to men and steeds, bent on the capture of Darius. But, mean- 
while, doom was stealing upon the Persian monarch by another 
way, His followers were beginning to suspect that ill luck dogged 
him, and when he proposed to stay and risk another battle in- 
stead of continuing his retreat to Bactria, none were willing ex- 
cept the remnant of Greek mercenaries. Bessus, the satrap of 
Bactria, was a kinsman of the king, and it was felt by many that 
he might be able to raise up again the Achaemenian house, which 
Darius had been unable to sustain. Darius was seized in the 




Propyl^a of Xerxes, at Persepolis 
335 



336 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

night, and hurried on as a prisoner along the road to Bactria. 
This event disbanded his army. The Greek mercenaries went off 
northward into the Caspian Mountains, and many of the Persians 
turned back to find pardon and grace with Alexander. When he 
learned that his old rival was a prisoner and that Bessus was now 
his antagonist, Alexander resolved on a swift and hot pursuit. 
Leaving the main body of the army to come slowly after, he set 
forth at once with his cavalry and some light foot, and sped the 
whole night through, not resting till next day at noon, and then 
another evening and night at the same breathless speed. Sun- 
rise saw him at Thara, where the Great King had been put in 
chains. It was ascertained that Bessus and his fellows intended 
to surrender Darius if the pursuit were pressed. The pursuers 
rode on throughout another night ; men and horses were dropping 
with fatigue. At noon they came to a village where the pursued 
had halted the day before, and Alexander learned that they in- 
tended to force a march in the night. He asked the people if 
there was no short way, and was told that there was a short way, 
but it was waterless. Alexander instantly dismounted five hun- 
dred of his horsemen and gave their steeds to the officers and the 
strongest men of the infantry who were with him. With these he 
started in the evening, and having ridden about forty-five miles 
came up with the enemy at break of day. Bessus and his fellow- 
conspirators bade their prisoner mount a horse ; and when Darius 
refused, they stabbed him and left him in his litter. The litter- 
mules strayed about half a mile from the road down a side valley, 
where they were found at a spring by a Macedonian who had come 
to slake his thirst. The Great King was near his last gasp. He 
had the solace of a cup of water in his supreme moments, and 
thanked the Macedonian soldier by a sign. Alexander viewed the 
body, and is related to have thrown his own cloak over it in pity. 
It was part of his fair luck that he found Darius dead ; for if he 
had taken him alive, he would not have put him to death, and 
such a captive would have been a perpetual embarrassment. He 



SPIRIT OF ALEXANDER'S POLICY AS LORD OF ASIA 337 

sent the corpse with all honor to the queen-mother, and the last 

of the Achaemenian kings was buried with his forefathers at Per- July, 330 b.c. 

sepolis. 

10. Spirit of Alexander's Policy as Lord of Asia. — From the 
very beginning Alexander had shown to the conquered provinces 
a tolerance which was not only prompted by generosity, but based 
on political wisdom. He had permitted each country to retain 
its national institutions, insisting only on the division of power. 
Under the Persian kingdom the satrap was usually sole governor, 
controlling not only the civil administration, but the treasury and 
the troops. Alexander, in most cases, committed only the internal 
administration to the governor, and appointed besides him, and 
independent of his authority, a financial officer and a military 
commander. This division of authority was a security against 
rebellion. 

But the Macedonian king had set forth as a champion of 
Greeks against mere barbarians, as a leader of Europeans 
against effeminate Asiatics. All the Greeks and Macedonians 
who followed him regarded the east as a world to be plun- 
dered, and the orientals as inferiors meant by nature to be their 
own slaves. But, as Alexander advanced, his view expanded, 
and he began to transcend the familiar distinction of Greek and 
barbarian. He formed the notion of an empire, both European 
and Asiatic, in which the Asiatics should not be dominated by 
the European invaders, but Europeans and Asiatics alike should 
be ruled on an equality by a monarch, indifferent to the distinc- 
tion of Greek and barbarian, and looked upon as their own 
king by Persians as well as by Macedonians. The idea begins 
to show itself after the battle of Gaugamela. Some of the 
eastern provinces are intrusted to Persian satraps; for example, 
Babylonia to Mazaeus, and the court of Alexander ceases to 
be purely European. With oriental courtiers the forms of an 
oriental court are also gradually introduced; the Asiatics pros- 
trated themselves before the lord of Asia; and presently 



338 THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA 

Alexander adopted the dress of a Persian king at court cere- 
monies, in order to appear less a foreigner in the eyes of his 
eastern subjects. 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

(Syllabus, 91-92) 

These last chapters are so detailed that there is little necessity of sup- 
plementary reading. Should a more extended account be desired, 
Bury, chs. 17-18, or Wheeler, Alexander, will furnish material. 
In addition, Grote, XII, 49-66, and Dodge, Alexander, 134-171, 
have good descriptions of the military system of Alexander. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

i . Hyrcania, Areia, Bactria, Sogdiana. — The murderers of 
Darius fled — Bessus to Bactria, Nabarzanes to Hyrcania. Alex- 
ander could not pursue Bessus while Nabarzanes was behind him 
in the Caspian region, and therefore his first movement was to 
cross the Elburz chain of mountains, which separate the south 
Caspian shores from Parthia, and subdue the lands of the Tapuri 
and Mardi. The Persian officers who had retreated into these 
regions submitted, and were received with favor; the life of Nabar- 
zanes was spared. The Greek mercenaries who had found refuge 
in the Tapurian Mountains capitulated. All who had entered the 
Persian service, before the Congress of Corinth had pledged 
Greece to the cause of Macedon, were released; the rest were com- 
pelled to serve in the Macedonian army. Alexander sent orders 
to Parmenio to go forth from Ecbatana and take possession of the 
Cadusian territory on the southwestern side of the Caspian. He 
himself, having rested a fortnight at Zadracarta and held athletic 
games, marched eastward to Susia, a town in the north of Areia, 
and was met there by Satibarzanes, governor of Areia, who was 
confirmed in his satrapy. Here the news arrived that Bessus had 
assumed the style of Great King with the name of Artaxerxes, 
and was wearing his turban "erect." Alexander started at once 
on the road to Bactria. But he had not gone far when he was 
overtaken by the news that Satibarzanes had revolted behind him. 
Hurrying back in forced marches with a part of his army, Alex- 
ander appeared before Artocoana, the capital of Areia, in two 
days. There was little resistance, and the conqueror marched 

339 




34Q 



HYRCANIA, AREIA, BACTRIA, SOGDIANA 34 1 

southward to Drangiana. His road can hardly be doubtful — 
the road which leads by Herat into Seistan. And it is probable 
that Herat is the site of the city which Alexander founded to be the 
capital and stronghold of the new province, Alexandria of the 
Areians. The submission of Drangiana was made without a blow. 

At Prophthasia, the capital of the Drangian land, it came to 
Alexander's ears that Philotas,the son of Parmenio,was conspiring 
against his life. The king called an assembly of the Macedonians 
and stated the charges against the general. Philotas admitted 
that he had known of a plot to murder Alexander and said noth- 
ing about it ; but this was only one of the charges against him. The 
Macedonians found Philotas guilty, and he was pierced by their 
javelins. The son dead, it seemed dangerous to let the father live, 
whether he was involved or not in the treasonable designs of 
Philotas. A messenger was despatched with all speed to Media, 
bearing commands to some of the captains of Parmenio's army 
to put the old general to death. It was an arbitrary act of precau- 
tion against merely suspected disloyalty; there seem to have 
been no proofs against Parmenio, and there was certainly no trial. 

In the meantime, Alexander, instead of retracing his steps and 
following the route to Bactria, resolved to fetch a circle. March- 
ing through Afghanistan, subduing it as he went, he would cross the 
Hindu-Kush Mountains and descend on the plain of the Oxus from 
the east. First he advanced southward to secure Seistan and 
the northwestern regions of Baluchistan, then known as Gedrosia, 
wintering among the Ariaspae, a peaceful and friendly people 
whom the Greeks called "Benefactors." A Gedrosian satrapy 
was constituted with its capital at Pura. When spring came, 
Alexander pushed northeastward up the valley of the Halmand. 329 b.c. 
The chief city which he founded in Arachosia was probably on the 
site of Candahar, which seems to be a corruption of its name, 
Alexandria. The way led on over the mountains, past Ghazni, 
into the valley of the upper waters of the Cabul River, and Alex- 
ander came to the foot of the high range of the Hindu-Kush. The 



342 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

whole massive complex of mountains which diverge from the roof 
of the world, dividing southern from central, eastern from western, 
Asia — the Pamirs, the Hindu-Kush, and the Himalayas — were 
grouped by the Greeks under the general name of Caucasus. But 
the Hindu-Kush was distinguished by the special name of Paro- 
panisus, while the Himalayas were called the Imaus. At the 
foot of the Hindu-Kush he spent the winter, and founded another 
Alexandria to secure this region, somewhere to the north of 
Cabul; it was distinguished as Alexandria of the Caucasus. The 
crossing of the Caucasus, undertaken in the early spring, was an 
achievement which seems to have fallen little short of Hannibal's 
passage of the Alps. The soldiers had to content themselves with 
raw meat and the herb of silphion as a substitute for bread. At 
length they reached Drapsaca, high up on the northern slope — 
the frontier fortress of Bactria. Having rested his way-worn 
army, Alexander went down by the stronghold of Aornus into the 
plain and marched to Bactra, now Balkh. 

The pretender, Bessus Artaxerxes, had stripped and wasted 
eastern Bactria up to the foot of the mountains, for the purpose 
of checking the progress of the invading army; but he fled across 
the Oxus when Alexander drew near. Another province was added 
without a blow to the Macedonian empire. Alexander lost no 
time in pursuing the fugitive into Sogdiana. This is the country 
which lies between the streams of the Oxus and the Jaxartes. It 
was called Sogdiana from the river Sogd, which loses itself in 
the sands of the desert before it approaches the waters of the Oxus. 
Bessus had burned his boats, and when Alexander, after a weary 
march of two or three days through the hot desert, arrived at the 
banks of the Oxus, he was forced to transport his army by the 
primitive vehicle of skins, which the natives of central Asia still 
use. Alexander's soldiers, however, instead of inflating the sheep- 
skins with air, stuffed them with rushes. They crossed the river 
at Kilif and advanced to Maracanda, easily recognized as Samar- 
cand. 



HYRCANIA, AREIA, BACTRIA, SOGDIANA 343 

The Sogdian allies of Bessus, thinking to save their country, 
sent a message offering to surrender the usurper. The king sent 
Ptolemy, son of Lagus, with six thousand men to secure Bessus. 
By Alexander's orders he was placed, naked and fettered, on the 
right side of the road by which the army was marching. He was 
then scourged and sent to Bactra to await his doom. 

But Alexander did not arrest his march; he had made up his 
mind to annex Sogdiana. Not the Oxus, but the Jaxartes, was to 
be the northern limit of his empire. Having seized and garrisoned 
Samarcand, the army pushed on northeastward by the unalter- 
able road which nature has marked out. The road reaches the 
Jaxartes where that river issues from the chilly vale of Fergana, 
and deflects its course to flow through the steppes. It was a point 
of the highest importance; for Fergana forms the vestibule of the 
great gate of communication between southwestern Asia and 
China — the pass over theTian-shan Mountains, which descends on 
the other side into the land of Kashgar. Here Alexander, with 
strategic insight, resolved to fix the limit of his empire, and on the 328 b.c. 
banks of the river he founded a new city, which was known as 
Alexandria Eschate ( the Ultimate), which is now Khodjend. 

The conqueror, judging from the ease with which he had come 
and conquered Arachosia and Bactria, seems not to have conceived 
that it might be otherwise beyond the Oxus. But as he was design- 
ing his new city, Alexander received the news that the Sogdians 
were up inarms behind him, and the garrison of Samarcand was be- 
sieged in the citadel. A message had gone forth into the western 
wastes, and the Massagetae and other Scythian tribes were flocking 
to drive out the intruder. It was a dangerous moment for Alex- 
ander. He first turned to recover the Sogdian fortresses, and in 
two days he had taken and burned five of them ; the others capit- 
ulated, and the dwellers of all these places were led in chains to 
take part in peopling the new Alexandria. 

The next task should have been the relief of Samarcand, but 
Alexander found himself confronted by a new danger. The 



344 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

Scythians were pouring down to the banks of the Jaxartes, ready 
to cross the stream and harass the Macedonians in the rear. It 
was impossible to move until they had been repelled and the 
passage of the river secured. The walls of Alexandria Eschate 
were hastily constructed of unburnt clay and the place made fit for 
habitation in the short space of twenty days. Meanwhile, the 
northern bank was lined by the noisy and jeering hordes of the 
barbarians, and Alexander determined to cross the river. Bringing 
up his missile-engines to the shore, he dismayed the shepherds, who, 
when stones and darts began to fall among them from such a dis- 
tance and unhorsed one of their champions, retreated some dis- 
tance from the bank. The army seized the moment to cross; 
the Scythians were routed, and Alexander, at the head of his 
cavalry, pursued them far into the steppes. Then, relieving Samar- 
cand by a forced desert march, the king swept on to Sogdiana, 
ravaging the land; then marching southwestward to the Oxus, 
he crossed into western Bactria and spent the winter at Zariaspa. 

At Zariaspa, Bessus was formally tried for the murder of Darius, 
and was condemned to have his nose and ears cut off and be taken 
to Ecbatana to die on the cross. The Greeks, like ourselves, re- 
garded mutilation as a barbarous punishment, but Alexander saw 
that he must meet the orientals on their own ground ; he must be- 
come their king in their own way. The surest means of planting 
Hellenism in their midst was to begin by taking account sympa- 
thetically of their prejudices. Alexander, therefore, assumed the 
state of Great King, surrounded himself with eastern forms and 
pomp, exacted self-abasement in his presence from oriental sub- 
jects, and adopted the maxim that the king's person was divine. 
He was the successor of Darius, and it was therefore an act of 
deliberate policy that he punished the king-slayer in eastern fashion. 

The misfortune was that Alexander's assumption of oriental 
state and the favor which he showed to the Persians were highly 
unpopular with the Macedonians. Though they were attached to 
their king, and proud of the conquest^ which they had helped him 



HYRCANIA, AREIA, BACTRIA, SOGDIANA 345 

to achieve, they felt that he was no longer the same to them as 
when he had led them to victory at the Granicus. His exaltation 
over obeisant orientals had changed him, and the execution of his 
trusted general Parmenio was felt to be significant of the change. 
These feelings of discontent accidentally found a mouthpiece 
about this time. Rebellious movements in Sogdiana brought 
Alexander over the Oxus again before the winter was over, and he 327 b.c. 
spent some time at Samarcand. One of the most unfortunate 
consequences of the long-protracted sojourn in the regions of the 
Oxus was the increase of drunkenness in the army. The exces- 
sively dry atmosphere in summer produces an intolerable and 
frequent thirst; and it was inevitable that the Macedonians 
should slake it by wine, if they would not sicken themselves by 
the bad water of the country. Alexander's potations became 
deep and habitual from this time forth. One night in the fortress 
of Samarcand the carouse lasted far into the night. Greek men 
of letters, who accompanied the army, sang the praises of Alex- 
ander, exalting him above the Dioscuri, whose feast he was cele- 
brating on this day. Clitus, his foster-brother, flushed with wine, 
suddenly sprang up to denounce the blasphemy, and, once he had 
begun, the current of his feelings swept him on. It was to the 
Macedonians, he said — to men like Parmenio and Philotas — 
that Alexander owed his victories: he himself had saved Alex- 
ander's life at the Granicus. Alexander started to his feet and 
called in Macedonian for his hypaspists ; none obeyed his drunken 
orders; Ptolemy and other banqueters forced Clitus out of the 
hall, while others tried to restrain the king. But presently Clitus 
made his way back and shouted from the doorway some insulting 
verses of Euripides, signifying that the army does the work and the 
general reaps the glory. The king leapt up, snatched a spear from 
the hand of a guardsman, and transfixed his foster-brother. An 
agony of remorse followed. For three days the murderer lay 
in his tent, without sleep or food, cursing himself as the assassin 
of his friends. 



346 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

There were more hostilities in western Bactria and western 
Sogdiana, until at last, overawed by Alexander's success, the 
Scythians, in order to win his favor, slew Spitamenes, their chief 
leader. It only remained to reduce the rugged southeastern 
regions of Sogdiana. The Sogdian Rock, which commands the 
pass into these regions, was occupied by Oxyartes, and a band of 
Macedonian soldiers captured it by an arduous night-climb. 

Among the captives was Roxane, the daughter of Oxyartes ; and 
the love of Alexander was attracted by the beauty and manners 
of the Sogdian maiden. Notwithstanding the adverse comment 
which such a condescension would excite among the proud Mace- 
donians, he resolved to make her his wife, and, on his return to 
Bactria, he celebrated the nuptials — a union of Asia and Europe. 

About this time an attempt seems to have been made to render 
uniform the court ceremonial, and enforce upon the Macedonians 
the obeisances demanded from Persian nobles. Callisthenes, 
nephew of Aristotle, who was composing a history of Alexander's 
campaigns, was prominent in opposing the change, and fell into 
disfavor. One of his duties was to educate the pages, the noble 
Macedonian youths who attended on the king's person; and over 
some of these Callisthenes had great influence. One day at a 
boar-hunt a page named Hermolaus committed the indiscretion 
of forestalling the king in slaying the beast; and for this breach 
of etiquette he was flogged and deprived of his horse. Smarting 
under the dishonor, Hermolaus plotted with some of his comrades 
to slay Alexander in his sleep. But the plot was betrayed. The 
conspirators were arrested, and put to death by the sentence of the 
whole army. Callisthenes was hanged on the charge of being 
an accomplice. 

Before the end of summer, Alexander bade farewell to Bactria 
and set forth to the conquest of India. In three years since the 
death of Darius, the western conqueror had subdued Afghanistan, 
and cast his yoke over the herdsmen of the north as far as the 
river Jaxartes. He was the first European invader and conqueror 



THE CONQUEST OF INDIA 347 

of the regions beyond the Oxus, anticipating by more than two 
thousand years Russia's recent conquests. His next enterprise 
forestalled the English conquest of northwestern India. 

2. The Conquest of India. — In returning to Afghanistan, 
Alexander seems to have followed the main road from Balkh to 
Cabul, which, if he had not refounded, he had at all events re- 
named, Nicaea. Here he stayed till the middle of November, 
preparing for further advance. He had left a large detachment of 
his army in Bactria, but he had enrolled a still larger force — thirty 
thousand — of the Asiatics of those regions. The host with which 
he was now to descend upon India must have been at least twice 
as numerous as the army with which he had crossed the Helles- 
pont seven years before. 

During these years Alexander's camp was his court and capital, 
the political center of his empire — a vast city rolling along over 
mountain and river through central Asia. Men of all trades and 
callings were there: craftsmen of every kind, engineers, physicians, 
and seers; peddlers and money-changers; literary men, poets, 
musicians, athletes, jesters; secretaries, clerks, court attendants; 
a host of women and slaves. A court diary was regularly kept — 
in imitation of the court journal of Persia — by Eumenes of Cardia, 
who conducted the king's political correspondence. 

Alexander had no idea of the shape or extent of the Indian penin- 
sula, and his notion of the Indian conquest was probably confined 
to the basins of the Cophen and the Indus. The stories that were 
told about the wonders of India excited the curiosity of the Greek 
invaders. It was a land of righteous folks, of strange beasts and 
plants, of surpassing wealth in gold and gems. It was supposed 
to be the ultimate country on the eastern side of the world, bounded 
by Ocean's stream. 

At this time northwestern India was occupied by a number of 327 b.c 
small principalities. The northern districts of the land between 
the Indus and the Hydaspes were ruled by Omphis, whose capital 
was at Taxila near the Indus. His brother Abisares was the ruler 



348 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

of Hazara and the adjacent parts of Cashmir. Beyond the Hy- 
daspes was the powerful kingdom of Poms, who held sway as far 
as the Acesines, which we know as the Chenab, the next of the 
"Five Rivers." East of the Chenab, in the lands of the Ravee and 
the Beas, were other small principalities, and also free "kingless" 
peoples, who owned no master. These states had no tendency to 
unity or combination. An invader, therefore, had no common 
resistance to fear; and he could be assured that many would wel- 
come him out of hatred for their neighbors. The prince of Taxila 
paid homage to Alexander at Nicaea, and promised his aid in sub- 
duing India. 

Alexander's direct road from the high plain of Cabul into the 
Punjab lay along the right bank of the Cophen or Cabul River, 
through the great gate of the Khyber Pass. But it was impossible 
to advance to the Indus without securing his communications, and 
for this purpose it was needful to subjugate the river-valleys to 
the left of the Cabul, among the huge western spurs of the Hima- 
laya Mountains. 

For the purposes of this campaign Alexander divided his army. 
Hephasstion advanced by the Khyber Pass, with orders to construct 
a bridge across the Indus. The king, with the rest of the army, 
including the light troops, plunged into the difficult country north 
of the river; and the winter was spent in warfare with the hardy 
hill-folks in the district of the Kunar, in remote Chitral, and in the 
Panjkar and Swat valleys. After this severe winter campaign, the 
army rested on the west bank of the Indus until spring had begun, 
and then, with the solemnity of games and sacrifices, crossed the 
river to Taxila, whose prince and other lesser princes met Alex- 
ander with obsequious pomp. A new satrapy, embracing the 
lands west of the Indus, was now established and intrusted to 
Philip, son of Machatas; Macedonian garrisons were placed in 
Taxila and some other places east of the Indus, and Philip was 
charged with the general command of these troops. This shows 
the drift of Alexander's policy. The Indus was to be the eastern 




349 



350 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

boundary of his direct sway; beyond the Indus, he purposed to 
create no new provinces, but only to form a system of protected 
states. 

Alexander then marched to the Hydaspes. Prince Porus, hav- 
ing gathered an army from thirty to forty thousand strong, was 
encamped on the left bank of the river, to contest the crossing. 
After a march, which was made slow and toilsome by the heavy 
tropical rain, the invaders encamped on the right bank of the 
river, and saw the lines of Porus on the opposite shore, protected 
by a multitude of elephants. It was useless to think of crossing 
in the face of this host ; for the horses, which could not endure the 
smell and noise of the elephants, would certainly have been 
drowned; and the men would have found it almost impossible 
to land, amid showers of darts, on the slimy, treacherous edge of 
the stream. All the fords in the neighborhood were watched. 
Alexander adopted measures to deceive and puzzle the enemy. 
Each night the Macedonian camp was in motion as if for crossing; 
each night the Indians stood long hours in the wind and rain. 
Alexander, meanwhile, was maturing a plan which he was able to 
carry out when he had put Porus off his guard. 

About sixteen miles upward from the camp, the Hydaspes 
made a bend westward, and opposite the jutting angle a thickly 
wooded island rose amid the stream, while a dense wood covered 
the right shore. Here Alexander determined to cross. He 
caused the boats to be conveyed thither in pieces and remade in 
the shelter of the wood; he had prepared skins stuffed with straw. 
When the time came, he led a portion of his troops to the wooded 
promontory, marching at a considerable distance from the river 
in order to avoid the observation of the enemy. A sufficient force 
was left to guard the camp under the command of Craterus. The 
king arrived at the appointed spot later in the evening, and through- 
out the wet, stormy night he directed the preparations for passing 
the swollen stream. Before dawn the passage began. Alexander 
led the way in a boat of thirty oars, and the island was safely passed ; 



THE CONQUEST OF INDIA 351 

but land was hardly reached before they were descried by Indian 
scouts. At last the whole force was safely landed on the bank, and 
Alexander ordered his men for the coming battle — the third of 
the three great battles of his life. It was to be won without any 
heavy infantry; he had with him only 6000 hypaspists, about 
4000 light foot, 5000 cavalry, including 1000 Scythian archers. 
Taking all the cavalry with him, he rode rapidly forward toward 
the camp of Porus. 

But Porus was advancing with his main army, having left a 
small force to guard the river-bank against Craterus. When he 
reached sandy ground, suitable for the movements of his cavalry 
and war-chariots, he drew up his line of battle. In front of all he 
arranged 200 elephants at intervals of 100 feet, and at some dis- 
tance behind them his infantry, who numbered 20,000, if not more. 
On the wings he placed his cavalry — perhaps 4000. Alexander 
waited for the hypaspists to come up, and drew them up opposite 
to the elephants. It was impossible to attack in front, for neither 
horse nor foot could venture in between these beasts, which stood 
like towers of defense, the true strength of the Indian army. The 
only method was to begin by a cavalry attack on the flank; and 
Seleucus and the other captains of the infantry were bidden not to 
advance until they saw that both the horse and the foot of the foe 
were tumbled into confusion by the flank assault. Alexander 
determined to concentrate his attack on the left wing; perhaps 
because it was on the river side, and he would be within easier 
reach of his troops on the other bank. Accordingly, he kept all his 
cavalry on his right wing. One body was intrusted to Ccenus, 
who bore well to the right, and was ready to strike in the rear, and 
to deal with the body of horse stationed upon the enemy's right 
wing, in case they should come round to assist their comrades on 
the left. The mounted Scythian archers rode straight against the 
front of the enemy's cavalry — which was still in column formation, 
not having had time to open out — and harassed it with showers 
of arrows; while Alexander himself, with the rest of the heavy 



352 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

cavalry, led the charge upon the flank. Porus — who had com- 
mitted the fatal mistake of allowing the enemy to take the offen- 
sive — brought up his remaining squadrons from the right wing 
as fast as he could. Then Ccenus, who had ridden round close to 
the river-bank, fell upon them in the rear. The Indians had now 
to form a double front against the double foe. Alexander seized 
the moment to press hard upon the adverse squadrons; they 
swayed backward and sought shelter behind the elephants. Then 
those elephant riders who were on this side of the army drove the 
beasts against the Macedonian horses ; and at the same time the 
Macedonian footmen rushed forward and attacked the animals 
which were now turned sidewards toward them. But the other 
elephants of the line were driven into the ranks of the hypaspists, 
and dealt destruction, trampling down and striking furiously. 
Heartened by the success of the elephants, the Indian cavalry 
rallied and charged, but beaten back by the Macedonian horse, 
who were now formed in a serried mass, they again sought shelter 
behind the elephantine wall. But many of the beasts were now 
furious with wounds and beyond control; some had lost their 
riders; and in the confusion they trampled on friends and foes 
alike. The Indians suffered most, for they were surrounded and 
confined to the space in which the animals raged ; while the Mace- 
donians could attack the animals on side or rear, and then retreat 
into the open when they turned to charge. At length, when the 
elephants grew weary and their charges were feebler, Alexander 
closed in. He gave the order for the hypaspists to advance in 
close array, shield to shield, while he, reforming his squadrons, 
dashed in from the side. The enemy's cavalry, already weak- 
ened and disordered, could not withstand the double shock and 
was cut to pieces. The hypaspists rolled in upon the enemy's 
infantry, who soon broke and fled. Meanwhile, the generals on the 
other side of the river, Craterus and the rest, discovering that 
fortune was declaring for Alexander, crossed the river without 
resistance. Porus, who had shown himself a mediocre general, 



THE CONQUEST OF INDIA 353 

but a most valiant soldier, when he saw most of his forces scattered, 
his elephants lying dead or straying riderless, did not flee, — as 
Darius had twice fled, — but remained fighting, seated on an 
elephant of commanding height, until he was wounded in the 
right shoulder, the only part of his body unprotected by mail. 
Then he turned round and rode away. Alexander, struck with 
admiration at his prowess, sent messengers who overtook him and 
induced him to return. The victor, riding out to meet the old 
prince, was impressed by his stature and beauty, and asked him 
how he would fain be treated. " Treat me like a king," said 
Porus. "For my own sake," said Alexander, "I will do that; 
ask a boon for thy sake." "That," replied Porus, "containeth 
all." 

And Alexander treated his captive royally. He not only gave 
him back his kingdom, but largely increased its borders. This 
royal treatment was inspired by deep policy. He could rest the 
security of his rule beyond the Indus on no better base than the 
mutual jealousy of two moderately powerful princes. He had 
made the lord of Taxila as powerful as was safe; the reinstatement 
of his rival Porus would be the best guarantee for his loyalty. But 
on either side the Hydaspes, close to the scene of the battle, two 
cities were founded, which would serve as garrisons in the subject 
land. On the right hand, the city of Bucephala, named after Alex- 
ander's steed, which died here; on the left, Nicaea, the city of 
victory. 

Leaving Craterus to build the cities, Alexander crossed the Ace- 
sines, more than a mile and a half broad, into the territory of a 
namesake and nephew of Porus, who fled eastward. Alexander 
left Hephaestion to march southward and subdue the land of the 
younger Porus, as well as the free communities between the two 
rivers. The news that the Cathaeans, a free and warlike people, 
were determined to give him battle, diverted Alexander from the 
pursuit. He stormed their chief town Sangala, and all their land 
was likewise placed under the lordship of Porus. Thus, of the 

2 A 



354 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

four river-bounded tracts which compose the Punjab, the largest, 
between Indus and Jehlum, belonged to Omphis of Taxila, while 
the three others, between Jehlum and Beas, were assigned to 
Porus. 

Alexander now advanced to the Hyphasis, or Beas, and reached 
it higher up than the point where it joins the Sutlej. It was 
destined to be the landmark of his utmost march. He wished to 
go farther and explore the lands of the Ganges, but an unlooked- 
for obstacle occurred. The Macedonians were worn out with 
years of hard campaigning, and weary of this endless rolling on 
into the unknown. Their numbers had dwindled; the remnant 
of them were battered and grown old before their time. All 
yearned to go back to their homeland in the west. On the banks 
of the Hyphasis the crisis came ; the men resolved to go no farther. 
At a meeting of the officers which Alexander summoned, Ccenus 
was the spokesman of the general feeling. The king retired to his 
tent and for two days refused to see any of his Companions, hoping 
that their hearts would be softened. But the Macedonians did not 
relent or go back from their purpose. On the third day, Alexander 
offered sacrifices preliminary to crossing the river, declaring that 
he would advance himself; but the victims gave unfavorable 
signs. Then the king yielded. When his will was made known, 
the way-worn veterans burst into wild joy ; the more part of them 
shed tears. They crowded round the royal tent, blessing the 
unconquered king, that he had permitted himself to be conquered 
for once, by his Macedonians. On the banks of the Hyphasis, 
Alexander erected twelve towering altars to the twelve great gods 
of Olympus, as a thank-offering for having led him safely within 
reach of the world's end. For in Alexander's conception the 
Ganges discharged its waters into the ocean which bounded the 
earth on the east, as the Atlantic bounded it on the west of the 
world. 

Alexander is often represented as a madman, impelled by an 
insatiable lust of conquest for conquest's sake. But if the form 



THE CONQUEST OF INDIA 355 

and feature of the earth were what he pictured it to be, twenty 
years would have sufficed to make his empire conterminous with 
its limits. He might have ruled from the eastern to the western 
ocean, from the ultimate bounds of Scythia to the shores of Libya ; 
he might have brought to pass in the three continents an uni- 
versal peace, and dotted the habitable globe with his Greek cities. 
The advance to the Indus was no mere wanton aggression, but 
was necessary to establish secure routes for trade with India, which 
was at the mercy of the wild hill-tribes; and the subjugation of 
the Punjab was a necessity for securing the Indus frontier. The 
solid interests of commerce underlay the ambitions of the Mace- 
donian conqueror. 

Alexander retraced his steps to the Hydaspes, on his way pick- 
ing up Hephaestion, who had founded a new city on the banks of 
the Acesines. On the Hydaspes, Craterus had not only built the 
two cities at the scene of the great battle, but had also prepared a 
large fleet of transports, which was to carry part of the army down 
the river to reach the Indus and the ocean. The fleet was placed 
under the command of Nearchus; the rest of the army, divided 
into two parts, marched along either bank, under Hephaestion and 
Craterus. 

As they advanced, the only formidable resistance that they 
encountered was from the free and warlike tribe of the Malli. 
Having routed a large host of these natives, Alexander pursued 
them to their chief city, which is possibly to be sought near the site 
of the modern Multan. Here he met with a grave adventure. 
The city had been easily taken, and the natives had retreated into 
the citadel. Two ladders were brought to scale the earthen wall, 
but it was found hard to place them beneath the shower of missiles 
from above. Impatient at the delay, Alexander seized a ladder 
and climbed up under the cover of a shield. Peucestas, who bore 
the sacred buckler from the temple of Ilion, and Leonnatus 
followed, and Abreas ascended the other ladder. When the king 
reached the battlement, he hurled down or slew the Indians who 



356 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

were posted at that spot. The hypaspists, when they saw their 
king standing upon the wall, a mark for the whole garrison of 
the fortress, made a rush for the ladders, and both ladders broke 
under the weight of the crowd. Only those three — Peucestas, 
Leonnatus, and Abreas — reached the wall before the ladders 
broke. His friends implored Alexander to leap down; he an- 
swered their cries by leaping down among the enemy. He alighted 
on his feet. With his back to the wall he stood alone against the 
throng of foes, who recognized the Great King. With his sword 
he cut down their leader and some others who ventured to rush at 
him; he felled two more with stones; and the rest, not daring to 
approach, pelted him with missiles. Meanwhile, his three com- 
panions had cleared the wall of its defenders and leapt down to 
help their king. Abreas fell slain by a dart. Then Alexander 
himself received a wound in the breast. For a space he stood and 
fought, but at last sank on his shield fainting through loss of blood. 
Peucestas stood over him with the holy shield of Troy, Leonnatus 
guarded him on the other side, until rescue came. Having no 
ladders, the Macedonians had driven pegs into the wall, and a few 
had clambered up as best they could and flung themselves down into 
the fray. Some of these succeeded in opening one of the gates, 
and then the fort was taken. No man, woman, or child in the 
place was spared by the infuriated soldiers, who thought that their 
king was dead. But, though the wound was grave, Alexander 
recovered. The rumor of his death reached the camp where the 
main army was waiting at the junction of the Ravee with the 
Chenab, and it produced deep consternation and despair. Reas- 
suring letters were not believed; so Alexander caused himself to 
be carried to the banks of the Ravee, and conveyed by water down 
to the camp. When he drew near, the canopy which sheltered his 
bed in the stern of the vessel was removed. The soldiers, still 
doubting, thought it was his corpse they saw, until the bark drew 
close to the bank and he waved his hand. Then the host shouted 
for joy. When he was carried ashore, he was lifted for a moment 



THE CONQUEST OF INDIA 357 

on horseback, that he might be the better seen of all; and then 
he walked a few steps for their greater reassurance. 

This adventure is an extreme case of Alexander's besetting 
weakness, which has been illustrated in many other of his actions. 
In the excitement of battle, amid the ring of arms, he was apt to 
forget his duties as a leader. To have endangered his own safety 
was a crime against the whole army. 

The Malli made a complete submission ; and when Alexander 
had recovered from his wound the fleet sailed downward, and the 
Indian tribes submitted, presenting to the conqueror the charac- 
teristic products of India — gems, fine draperies, tame lions, and 
tigers. At the place where the united stream of the four lesser 
rivers joins the mighty flow of the Indus, the foundations were 
laid of a new Alexandria. The next stage of the southward ad- 
vance was the capital town of the Sogdi, which lay upon the river. 
Alexander refounded it as a Greek colony, and built wharfs; it 
was known as the Sogdian Alexandria, and was destined to be 
the residence of a southern satrapy which was to extend to the sea- 
coast. It is impossible to identify the sites of these cities, because 
the face of the Punjab has completely changed, through the altera- 
tion of the courses of its rivers, since the days of Alexander. 

The principalities of the rich and populous land of Sind were 
distinguished from the states of the north by the great political 
power enjoyed by the Brahmans. Under the influence of this 
caste, the princes either defied Alexander or, if they submitted at 
first, speedily rebelled. Thus it was nearly midsummer when the 
king reached Patala, near the Indian Ocean. On the tidings of 
an insurrection in Arachosia, he had despatched Craterus with a 
considerable portion of the army to march through the Bolan 
Pass into southern Afghanistan and put down the revolt. Alex- 
ander himself designed to march through Baluchistan, and Cra- 
terus was ordered to meet him in Kirman, near the entrance of the 
Persian Gulf. Another division of the host was to go by sea to the 
mouth of the Tigris. The king fixed upon Patala to be for the 



358 



THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 



Aug. -Oct., 
325 B.C. 



Indian empire what the most famous of his Alexandrias was for 
Egypt. He charged Hephaestion with the task of fortifying the 
citadel and building an ample harbor. Then he sailed southward 
himself to visit the southern ocean. He sacrificed to Poseidon; 
he poured drink-offerings from a golden cup to the Nereids and 
Dioscuri, and to Thetis, the mother of his ancestor Achilles, and 
then hurled the cup into the waves. This ceremony inaugurated 
his plan of opening a seaway for commerce between the west and 
the far east. The enterprise of discovering this seaway was 
intrusted to Nearchus. Alexander started on his land-march 
in the early autumn, but Nearchus and the fleet were to wait till 
October, in order to be helped forward by the eastern monsoons. 

3 . Alexander's Return to Babylon. — No enterprise of Alexander 
was so useless, and none so fatal, as the journey through the desert 

of Gedrosia, the land 
which is now known 
as the Mekran. His 
guiding motive in 
choosing this route 
was to make provi- 
sions for the safety 
of the fleet, to dig 
wells and store food 
at certain places 
along the coast. 
The march through the Mekran and the voyage of Nearchus were 
interdependent parts of the same adventure; and so timid were 
the mariners of those days that the voyage into unknown waters 
seemed far more formidable than the journey through the waste. 
With perhaps thirty thousand men, Alexander passed the 
mountain wall which protects the Indus delta, and reduced the 
Oritas to subjection before he descended into the waste of Gedro- 
sia. The army moved painfully through the desert, where it was 
often almost impossible to step through the deep sinking sand. 





Coin of Alexander. Obverse : Head of Her- 
acles, in Lion's Skin. Reverse: Eagle- 
bearing Zeus, and Prow of Galley in 
Field [Legend: aaehanapoy] 



ALEXANDER'S RETURN TO BABYLON 359 

Alexander himself is said to have trudged on foot and shared all 
the hardships of the way. At length the waste was crossed; the 
losses of that terrible Gedrosian journey exceeded the losses of all 
Alexander's campaigns. 

Having rested at Pura, the king proceeded to Kirman, where he 
was joined by Craterus, who had suppressed the revolt in Arachosia. 
Presently news arrived that the fleet had reached the Kirman 
coast, and soon Nearchus arrived at the camp and relieved Alex- 
ander's anxiety. They had been weather-bound and had lost three 
ships; but the king was overjoyed that they had arrived at all. 
Nearchus was dismissed to complete the voyage by sailing up the 
Persian Gulf and the Pasitigris River to Susa; Hephaestion was 
sent to make his way thither along the coast; while Alexander 
himself marched through the hills by Persepolis and Pasargadae. 

It was high time for Alexander to return. There was hardly 
a satrap, Persian or Macedonian, in any land, who had not op- 
pressed his province by violence and rapacity. Many satraps were 
deposed or put to death; and one guilty minister fled at Alex- 
ander's approach. This was the treasurer Harpalus, who had 
squandered his master's money in riotous living at Babylon, and 
deemed it prudent to move westward. Taking a large sum of 
money, he went to Cilicia, and hiring a bodyguard of six thousand 
mercenaries, he lived in royal state at Tarsus. On Alexander's 
return he fled to Greece, where we shall meet him presently. 

Having punished with a stern hand the misrule of his satraps, 
Macedonian and Persian alike, Alexander began to carry out 
schemes which he had formed. He had unbarred and unveiled 
the orient to the knowledge and commerce of the Mediterranean 
peoples, but his aim was to do much more than this; it was no 
less than to fuse Asia and Europe into a homogeneous unity. He 
devised various means for compassing this object. He proposed 
to transplant Greeks and Macedonians into Asia, and Asiatics into 
Europe, as permanent settlers. This plan had indeed been partly 
realized by the foundation of his numerous mixed cities in the far 



360 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

east. The second means was the promotion of intermarriages 
between Persians and Macedonians, and this policy was inaugu- 
rated in magnificent fashion at Susa. The king himself espoused 
Statira, the daughter of Darius; his friend Hephsestion took her 
sister; and a large number of Macedonian officers wedded the 
daughters of Persian grandees. Of the general mass of the Mace- 
donians ten thousand are said to have followed the example of 
their officers and taken Asiatic wives; all those were liberally re- 
warded by Alexander. It is to be noticed that Alexander, already 
wedded to the princess of Sogdiana, adopted the polygamous cus- 
tom of Persia ; and he even married another royal lady, Parysatis, 
daughter of Ochus. These marriages were purely dictated by 
policy; for Alexander never came under the influence of women. 
But the most effective means for bringing the two races together 
was the institution of military service on a perfect equality. With 
this purpose in view, Alexander, not long after the death of Darius, 
had arranged that in all the eastern provinces the native youth 
should be drilled and disciplined in Macedonian fashion and taught 
to use the Macedonian weapons. In fact, Hellenic military schools 
were established in every province, and at the end of five years 
an army of thirty thousand Hellenized barbarians was at the 
Great King's disposition. At his summons this army gathered at 
Susa, and its arrival created a natural, though unreasonable, feeling 
of discontent among the Macedonians, who divined that Alexander 
aimed at making himself independent of their services. His 
schemes of transforming the character of his army were also in- 
dicated by the enlistment of Persians and other orientals in the 
Macedonian cavalry regiments. 
324 k.c. Alexander left Susa for Ecbatana in spring. He sailed down the 

river Pasitigris to the Persian Gulf, surveyed part of the coast, and 
sailed up the Tigris, removing the weirs which the Persians had 
constructed to hinder navigation. The army joined him on the 
way, and he halted at Opis. Here he held an assembly of the 
Macedonians, and formally discharged all those — about ten 



PREPARATIONS FOR AN ARABIAN EXPEDITION 36 1 

thousand in number — whom old age or wounds had rendered unfit 
for warfare, promising to make them comfortable for life. The 
smouldering discontent found a voice now. The cry was raised, 
" Discharge us all." Alexander leapt down from the platform into 
the shouting throng; he pointed out thirteen of the most forward 
rioters, and bade his hypaspists seize them and put them to death. 
The rest were cowed. Amid a deep silence the king remounted 
the platform, and in a bitter speech he discharged the whole army. 
Then he retired into his palace, and on the third day summoned 
the Persian and Median nobles and appointed them to posts of 
honor and trust which had hitherto been filled by Macedonians. 
The names of the Macedonian regiments were transferred to the 
new barbarian army. When they heard this, the Macedonians, 
who still lingered in their quarters, miserable and uncertain whether 
to go or stay, appeared before the gates of the palace. They laid 
down their arms submissively and implored admission to the king's 
presence. Alexander came out, and there was a tearful reconcilia- 
tion, which was sealed by sacrifices and feasts. 

The summer and early winter were spent at the Median capital. 
Here a sorrow, the greatest that could befall him, befell Alexander. 
Hephaestion fell ill, languished for seven days, and died. Alex- 
ander fasted three days, and the whole empire went into mourning. 

Alexander set out for Babylon toward the end of the year, and 
on his way ambassadors from far lands came to his camp. The 
Bruttians, Lucanians, and Etruscans, the Carthaginians and the 
Phoenician colonies of Spain, Celts, Scythians of the Black Sea, 
Libyans, and Ethiopians had all sent envoys to court the friendship 
of the monarch who seemed already to be lord of half the earth. 

4. Preparations for an Arabian Expedition. Alexander's 
Death. — Ever since the successful voyage of Nearchus, Alex- 
ander was bent on the circumnavigation and conquest of Arabia. 
His eastern empire was not complete so long as this peninsula lay 
outside it. The possession of this country of sand, however, was 
only an incident in the grand range of his plans. His visit to In- 



362 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

dia and the voyage of Nearchus had given him new ideas ; he had 
risen to the conception of making the southern ocean another 
great commercial sea like the Mediterranean. He hoped to 
establish a regular trade-route from the Indus to the Tigris and 
Euphrates, and thence to the canals which connected the Nile 
with the Red Sea. Alexander destined Babylon to be the capital 
of his empire, and doubtless it was a wise choice. But its char- 
acter was now to be transformed. It was to become a naval 
station and a center of maritime commerce. Alexander set about 
the digging of a great harbor, with room for a thousand keels. 

All was in readiness, at length, for the expedition to the south. 
On a day in early June, a royal banquet was given in honor of Ne- 
archus and his seamen, shortly about to start on their oceanic 
voyage. Two nights of carousal ended in a fever which held him 
for six days, while the expedition's departure was postponed for 
another and yet another day. Then his condition grew worse, 
and lie was carried back to the palace, where he won a little sleep, 
but the fever did not abate. When his officers came to him, they 
found him speechless; the disease became more violent, and a 
rumor spread among the Macedonian soldiers that Alexander 
was dead. They rushed clamoring to the door of the palace, and 
the bodyguards were forced to admit them. One by one they filed 
past the bed of their young king, but he could not speak to them ; 
he could only greet each by slightly raising his head and signing 
with his eyes. Peucestas and some others of the Companions 
passed the night in the temple of Serapis and asked the god 
whether they should convey the sick man into the temple, if haply 
he might be cured there by divine help. A voice warned them not 
to bring him, but to let him remain where he lay. He died on a 
323 B.c. June evening, before the thirty-third year of his age was fully 
told. 

• His sudden death was no freak of fate or fortune; it was a nat- 
ural consequence of his character and his deeds. Into thirteen 
years he had compressed the energies of many lifetimes. Sparing 



GREECE UNDER MACEDONIA 363 

of himself neither in battle nor at the feast, he was doomed to die 
young. 

5. Greece under Macedonia. — The tide of the world's history 
swept us away from the shores of Greece ; we could not pause to 
see what was happening in the little states which were looking 
with mixed emotions at the spectacle of their own civilization mak- 
ing its way over the earth. Alexander's victory at the gates of 
Issus and his ensuing supremacy by sea had taught many of the 
Greeks the lesson of caution ; the Confederacy of the Isthmus had 
sent congratulations and a golden crown to the conqueror; and 
when, a twelvemonth later, the Spartan king Agis renewed the war 
against Macedonia, he got no help or countenance outside the 
Peloponnesus. Agis induced the Arcadians, except Megalopolis, 331 b.c 
the Achaeans, and the Eleians, to join him; and the chief object of 
the allies was to capture Megalopolis. Antipater, as soon as the 
situation in Thrace set him free, marched southward to the relief 
of Megalopolis, and easily crushed the allies in a battle fought hard 
by. Agis fell fighting, and there was no further resistance. 

So long as Darius lived, many of the Greeks cherished secret 
hopes that fortune might yet turn. But on the news of his death 
such hopes expired, and it was not till Alexander's return from 
India that anything happened to trouble the peace. 

For Athens the twelve years between the fall of Thebes and the 
death of Alexander were an interval of singular well-being. The 
conduct of public affairs was in the hands of the two most honor- 
able statesmen of the day, Phocion and Lycurgus; and Demos- 
thenes was sufficiently clear-sighted not to embarrass, but, when 
needful, to support, the policy of peace. Phocion probably did 
not grudge him the signal triumph which he won over his old 
rival, ^schines; for this triumph had only a personal, and not a 
political, significance. Ctesiphon had proposed to honor Demos- 
thenes, both for his general services to the state and especially 
for his liberality in contributing from his private purse toward the 
repair of the city-walls, by crowning him publicly in the theater 



364 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

with a crown of gold. The Council passed a resolution to this 
effect ; but yEschines lodged an accusation against the proposer, on 
the ground that the motion violated the Graphe Paranomon. In 
a speech of the highest ability, vEschines reviewed the public career 
of Demosthenes, to prove that he was a traitor and responsible for 
all the disasters of Athens. The reply of Demosthenes, a master- 
piece of splendid oratory, captivated the judges; and ^Eschines, 
not winning one-fifth part of their votes, left Athens and disap- 
peared from politics. 

The Macedonian empire had not yet lasted long enough to turn 
the traffic of the Mediterranean into new channels, and Athens 
still enjoyed great commercial prosperity. Although peace was 
her professed policy, she did not neglect to make provision, in case 
opportunity should come round, for regaining her sovereignty on 
sea. Money was spent on the navy, which is said to have been 
increased to well-nigh four hundred galleys, and on new ship- 
sheds. The man who was mainly responsible for this naval ex- 
penditure was Lycurgus. In recent years considerable changes 
had been made in the constitution of the financial offices. Eubu- 
lus had administered as the president of the Theoric Fund. But 
now we find the control of the expenditure in the hands of a minis- 
ter of the public revenue, who was elected by the people and held 
office for four years, from one Panathenaic festival to another. 
Lycurgus held this post. The post practically included the func- 
tions of a minister of public works, and the ministry of Lycurgus 
was distinguished by building enterprises. He constructed the 
Panathenaic stadion on the southern bank of the Ilissus. He 
rebuilt the Lycean gymnasium, where in these years the philoso- 
pher Aristotle used to take his morning and evening " walks," 
teaching his ''peripatetic" disciples. But the most memorable 
work of Lycurgus was the reconstruction of the theater of Dio- 
nysus. It was he who built the rows of marble benches, climbing 
up the steep side of the Acropolis, as we see them to-day. 

Thus Athens discreetly attended to her material well-being, and 



EPISODE OF HARP ALUS AND GREEK REVOLT 365 

courted the favor of the gods, and the only distress which befell 
her was a dearth of corn. But on the return of Alexander to Susa, 
two things happened which imperiled the tranquillity of Greece. 
Alexander promised the Greek exiles — there were more than 
twenty thousand of them — to procure their return to their native 
cities. He sent Nicanor to the great congregation of Hellas at 
the Olympian festival, to order the states to receive back their 324 b.c. 
banished citizens. Only two states objected — Athens and ^Etolia ; 
and they objected because, if the edict were enforced, they would 
be robbed of ill-gotten gains. The /Etolians had possessed them- 
selves of (Eniadae and driven out its Acarnanian owners. The 
position of Athens in Samos was similar; the Samians would now 
be restored to their own lands, and the Athenian settlers would 
have to go. Both Athens and /Etolia were prepared to resist. 

6. The Episode of Harpalus and the Greek Revolt. — Mean- 
while, an incident had happened which might induce some of the 
patriots to hope that Alexander's empire rested on slippery foun- 
dations. Harpalus had arrived off the coast of Attica with five 
thousand talents, a body of mercenaries, and thirty ships. He had 
come to excite a revolt against his master. Refused admission 
with his force, he came alone to Athens with a sum of about seven 
hundred talents. After a while messages arrived both from Mace- 
donia and from Philoxenus, Alexander's financial minister in 
western Asia, demanding his surrender. The Athenians, on the 
proposal of Demosthenes, adopted a clever device. They arrested 
Harpalus, seizing his treasure, and said that they would surrender 
him to officers expressly sent by Alexander, but declined to give 
him up to Philoxenus or Antipater. Harpalus escaped, and was 
shortly afterward murdered by one of his fellow-adventurers. 

The stolen money was deposited in the Acropolis, under the 
charge of specially appointed commissioners, of whom Demos- 
thenes was one. Suddenly it was discovered that only three hun- 
dred and fifty talents were actually in the Acropolis. Charges 
immediately circulated against the influential politicians, that the 



366 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

other three hundred and fifty talents had been received in bribes 
by them before the money was deposited in the citadel. The 
court of Areopagus satisfied themselves that a number of leading 
statesmen had received considerable sums. Demosthenes ap- 
peared in their report as the recipient of twenty talents. He 
confessed the misdemeanor himself, and sought to excuse it by 
the subterfuge that he had taken it to repay himself for twenty 
talents which he had advanced to the Theoric Fund. But why 
should he repay himself, without any authorization, out of Alex- 
ander's money, for a debt owed him by the Athenian state ? The 
charges against Demosthenes were twofold : he had taken money, 
and he had culpably omitted to report the amount of the deposit 
and the neglect of those who were set to guard it. He was con- 
demned to pay a fine of fifty talents. Unable to pay it, he was 
imprisoned, but presently effected his escape. 

If Alexander had lived, the Athenians might have persuaded 
him to let them remain in occupation of Samos ; for he was always 
disposed to be lenient to Athens. When the tidings of his death 
came, men almost refused to credit it; the orator Demades for- 
cibly said, "If he were indeed dead, the whole world would have 
smelt of his corpse." It did not seem rash to strike for freedom 
in the unsettled condition of things after his death. Athens re- 
volted from Macedonia; she was joined by .ZEtolia and many states 
in northern Greece, and she secured the services of a band of eight 
thousand discharged mercenaries who had just returned from 
Alexander's army. One of their captains, the Athenian Leos- 
thenes, occupied Thermopylae, and near that pass the united 
Greeks gained a slight advantage over Antipater, who had marched 
southward as soon as he could gather his troops together. No 
state in north Greece except Bceotia remained true to Macedonia. 
The regent shut himself in the strong hill-city of Lamia, which 
stands over against the pass of Thermopylae under a spur of 
Othrys; and here he was besieged during the winter by Leosthenes. 
These successes had gained some adherents to the cause in the 



EPISODE OF HARPALUS AND GREEK REVOLT 367 

Peloponnesus; and, if the Greeks had been stronger at sea, that 
cause might have triumphed, at least for a while. In spring the 
arrival of Leonnatus, governor of Hellespontine Phrygia, at the 
head of an army, raised the siege of Lamia. The Greeks marched 
into Thessaly to meet the new army before it united with Anti- 
pater; a battle was fought, in which Leonnatus was wounded to 
death. Antipater arrived the next day, and, joining forces with 
the defeated army, withdrew into Macedonia, to await Craterus, 
who was approaching from the east. When Craterus arrived, they 
entered Thessaly together, and in an engagement at Crannon, in 3 22 B -c 
which the losses on both sides were light, the Macedonians had a 
slight advantage. This battle apparently decided the war, but the 
true cause which hindered the Greeks from continuing the struggle 
was not the insignificant defeat at Crannon, but the want of unity 
among themselves, the want of a leader whom they entirely trusted. 
They were forced to make terms singly, each state on its own 
behoof. 

Athens submitted when Antipater advanced into Bceotia and 
prepared to invade Attica. She paid dearly for her attempt to 
win back her power. Antipater, unlike Alexander, had no soft 
place in his heart for the memories and traditions of Athens. He 
saw only that, unless strong and stern measures were taken, 
Macedonia would not be safe against a repetition of the rising 
which he had suppressed. He therefore imposed three conditions 
which Phocion and Demades were obliged to accept : that the dem- 
ocratic constitution should be modified by a property qualification; 
that a Macedonian garrison should be lodged in Munychia ; and 
that the agitators, Demosthenes, Hypereides, and their friends, 
should be surrendered. 

Demosthenes had exerted eloquence in gaining support for the 
cause of the allies in the Peloponnesus, and his efforts had been 
rewarded by his recall to Athens. As soon as the city had sub- 
mitted, he and the other orators fled. Hypereides with two com- 
panions sought refuge in the temple of /Eacus at /Egina, whence 



368 THE CONQUEST OF THE FAR EAST 

they were taken to Antipater and put to death. Demosthenes 
fled to the temple of Poseidon in the island of Calaurea. When the 
messengers of Antipater appeared and summoned him forth, he 
swallowed poison, which he had concealed, according to one story, 
in a pen, and was thus delivered from falling into the hands of the 
executioner. 



REFERENCE FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

i. The Character of Alexander: an Estimate of his Work. 

Holm, III, 374-391. Wheeler, Alexander, 473-501. Mahaffy, 
Greek Life and Thought^ 1-38. 



INDEX 



Abdera, 40. 

Abisares, 347. 

Abydus, 45, 63, 228, 315. 

Academy, 259. 

Acanthus, 250. 

Acarnania, 4, 21, 179. 

Acastus, 92. 

Achaea, 5, 22, 28, no, 179, 270. 

Achaean, colonies in Italy, 53-54, 63; 

settlements, 23-24; dialect, 32. 
Achradina, 155. 
Acragas, 52, 63, 155, 277. 
Acropolis, at Athens, 4, 90, 96 ; captured 

by the Persians, 147. 
Acte, 46. 
Admetus, king of the Molossians, 165 ; 

king of the Persians, 327. 
y£gae, 287, 289. 
^Egean, civilization, 6, 14, 16, 22, 23; 

race, 17, 21. 
^Egina, 59, 78, no, 130, 134, 135, 142, 

146, 147, 175, 176, 200. 
/Egospotami, 233, 234. 
JEoWs, 28, 55 ; settlements, 23, 24 ; dia- 
lect, 32. 
^Eschines, 299, 301, 363, 364. 
-<Eschylus, 107, 157, 189. 
^Etolia, 4, 21, 27. 
./Etna, 50. 

Afghanistan, 346, 347. 
Agarista, 84. 

Agesilaus, 244-248, 251, 253, 255, 273. 
Agis, 226, 235, 244, 363. 
Alcaeus, 81. 
Alcibiades, 217-223, 227, 229-231, 234 ; 

death, 237. 
Alcmaeonids, 84, 96, 102, in, 113, 114, 

197. 
Alexander I., of Macedonia, 129, 151. 



Alexander of Macedonia, the Great, 
birth, 291 ; campaigns in Europe, 310- 
313; military preparations, 313-314; 
battle of Granicus, 315-316 ; surrender 
of Sardis, 316 ; conquest of the Ionian 
cities, 316 ; Halicarnassus, 318 ; Gor- 
dian knot, 319; battle of Issus, 320- 
323 ; siege of Tyre, 324-327 ; conquest 
of Egypt, 328-329 ; battle of Gauga- 
mela and surrender of Babylon, 329- 
333 '. pursuit and death of Darius, 
334-337; policy of, 337; Areia, 339; 
Bactria, 342 ; conquest of India, 347- 
357; death, 362. 

Alexander of Pherae, 372. 

Alexandria in Areia, 341 ; of Candahar, 
341 ; in Egypt, 328 ; Eschate, 343 ; in 
Sogdian, 357. 

Alpheus, 5, 27, 75. 

Amorgus, 7. 

Amphictionic League, 86, 87, 300 ; ad- 
mission of Philip and Alexander, 301 ; 
Sacred War, 292-301. 

Amphipolis, 193, 213; battle of, 214; 289, 
299. 

Amphissa, 303, 304. 

Amyclae, 30, 64, 268. 

Amyntas, 288. 

Anaxagoras, 202. 

Andros, 46. 

Antalcidas, 249. 

Anthela, 86. 

Antipater, 312, 314, 366, 367. 

Antiphon, 227, 229. 

Anytus, 258. 

Aornus, 342. 

Apella, 66, 67. 

Apollonia, 81, 250. 

Arabia, 361. 



2 1$ 



3 6 9 



370 



INDEX 



Arachosia, 341, 357. 

Arbela, 332. 

Arcadia, 5, 21, 22, 69, 70, 75, 109, 161, 

267, 270, 272. 
Archelaus, 288. 
Archias, 251, 252. 
Archidamus, 197, 199, 200, 266. 
Archilochus, 62, 8o, 87. 
Archon,92, 99, 135, 173; eponymous, 93 ; 

king, 93 ; polemarch, 93, 135 ; thes- 

mothetae, 95. 
Ardys, 59. 
Areia, 339. 
Areopagus, council at Athens, 93, 94, 

100 ; reformed by Pericles, 172. 
Arginusae, battle of, 232. 
Argive plain, 16, 30. 
Argolis, 4, 22, 24, 30. 
Argos, 4, 75, 84, no, 135, 142, 161, 217 ; 

alliance with Athens, 218 ; alliance 

with Macedonia, 301. 
Argos in Thessaly, 7. 
Ariobarzanes, 271, 332, 333. 
Aristagoras, tyrant of Miletus, 126, 127. 
Aristides, 136, 142, 165; at Salamis, 149; 

confederacy of Delos, 162-163. 
Aristogiton, in. 
Aristomenes, 69, 70. 
Aristophanes, 239, 240. 
Aristotle, 295, 346, 364. 
Artabazus, 150, 153. 
Artaphernes, 126, 130, 133. 
Artaxerxes, war with Athens, 165, 180; 

rebellion of Cyrus, 241-244; war with 

Sparta, 244-246; King's Peace, 248, 

249. 
Artaxerxes Ochus, 314. 
Artemisium, 142-144, 146. 
Artocoana, 339. 
Asopus, 31. 
Aspasia, 202. 
Astyages, 120. 
Athens, 4, 90, 103; organization in the 

seventh century, 93-94 ; laws of Dra- 

con, 96-97 ; conspiracy of Cylon, 96, 

103; reforms of Solon, 97-100; Pisis- 

tratus, 104-.109; Cleisthenes, 114-118; 

captured by the Persians, 146-147 ; 

Delian Confederacy, 161, 162, 166, 167; 

fortification of, 163-165 ; empire, 167- 



182; war with Bceotia, 177-179, 181; 
restoration of the temples, 185-189 ; 
war with the Peloponnesians (see Pel- 
opohnesian War) ; plague, 200-202 ; 
Four Hundred, 228-229; surrender, 
235 ; rule of the Thirty, 236-239 ; second 
league, 253-256 ; Sacred War, 294, 300 ; 
alliance with Thebes against Philip, 
303 ; revolts from Macedonia, 365-367. 

Athos, 46, 129. 

Attica, 4, 12, 21, 22, 24, 90. 

Axius, 46. 

Babylon, 119, 123, 332, 333, 358. 

Bacchiads, 39, 81. 

Bacchylides, 157. 

Bactria, 339, 341, 342, 344, 346, 347. 

Balkh, 342. 

Batis, 328. 

Beas, 348. 

Bessus, 334, 339, 343, 344. 

Bezabde, 330. 

Bceotia, 4, 12, 28, 87, 88, 90, 91, 117, 177- 

181, 210-212. 
Bolan Pass, 357. 
Brasidas, 210, 212-214. 
Byzantium, 43, 45, 63, 160, 194, 254,271, 

292, 302. 

Cabul, 341, 348. 

Cadmea, 252, 312. 

Callias, peace of, 255-256, 264. 

Callibius, 238. 

Callimachus, 130, 131-132, 134. 

Callippus, 285. 

Callisthenes, 346. 

Camarina, 155, 219, 278. 

Cambunian Mountains, 4. 

Cambyses, 123, 125. 

Candaules, 58. 

Cappadocia, 120, 319. 

Caria, 18, 31, 128, 287, 291-292, 318. 

Carthage, 155-156, 276-280. 

Catane, 50, 63, 219, 221, 279. 

Caucasus, 342. 

Caulonia, 53, 63, 282. 

Cayster, 25. 

Cecrops, 90. 

Ceos, 272. 

Cephallenia, 200. 



INDEX 



371 



Cephissus River, 4, 90. 

Cersobleptes, 295, 298. 

Chabrias, 254, 272. 

Chaeronea, 29, 181, 210, 304-305. 

Chalcedon, 45, 63. 

Chalcidice, 46, 82, 196, 212-213, 298. 

Chalcis, 58, 82, 117-118; colonies of, 46, 

48, 50, 54, 63. 
Chares, 302. 
Chios, 25, 32-33, 168, 225, 254, 272, 292, 

3°3- 

Choregos, 174. 

Cimmerians, 59. 

Cimon, 166-171, 177-178, 180. 

Cithaeron Mountains, 4, 90, 117. 

Clazomenae, 25, 249. 

Clearchus, 242, 243. 

Cleisthenes of Athens, in, 113 ; constitu- 
tion of, 114-117. 

Cleisthenes of Sicyon, 84, 85. 

Cleombrotus, 150, 159, 252, 265-266. 

Cleomenes, 114, 117, 127, 135. 

Cleon, 204, 205, 209, 214. 

Cleonae, 18. 

Cleopatra, 310. 

Cleophon, 233. 

Cleruchs, 104. 

Cleruchy, 104, 184. 

Clitus, 345. 

Cnidus, 225, 245. 

Cnossus, 7, 17, 19. 

Coenus, 351-352. 

Colonies of Greece, 63. 

Colony, causes of colonization, 42; re- 
lation to mother-city, 42 ; influence, 

43.44- 
Colophon, 25, 58. 
Conon, 232, 234, 245 ; rebuilds the 

" Long Walls," 248. 
Copais Lake, 4, 12. 
Corcyra, 51, 58, 83, 142, 165, 195. 
Corinth, 18, 51, 58, 63, 81-83, 84, no; 

congress of, 141. 
Coronea, 29, 181, 247. 
Cos, 31, 292. 
Crannon, 28, 367. 
Craterus, 35°-353. 355. 367* 
Crathis River, 53. 
Crenides, 289. 
Crete, 7, 19, 74, 142. 



Crimisus River, 285. 

Crisa, 85, 86. 

Critias, 236-238. 

Croesus, 119, 120, 121, 122. 

Croton, 53, 63, 282. 

Cunaxa, 242. 

Cyclades, 2, 22. 

Cylon, 96, 103. 

Cyme, 24. 

Cyme, colony in Italy, 48, 50, 63, 156. 

Cynoscephalas, 272. 

Cyprus, colonization of, 31 ; revolt from. 

Persia, 128, 160, 180, 249, 326. 
Cypselus, 81, 82. 
Cyrene, 60, 123, 329. 
Cyrus, 120, 122, 123, 125. 
Cyrus the younger, 231, 241, 242, 244. 
Cythera, 209. 
Cyzicus, 46, 63, 230. 

Damascus, 328. 

Daric, 125. 

Darius, 123, 125, 126; expedition against 

Greece, 129-135* 
Darius Codomannus, 314, 320, 322, 326, 

33°. 332, 334-337- 

Datis, 130, 133, 134. 

Decarchy, 241. 

Decelea, 222. 

Delium, 210, 211. 

Delos, 106 ; confederacy of, 161-165, 
166, 167 ; becomes an Athenian em- 
pire, 167, 168. 

Delphi, oracle cf, 4, 29, 43, 58, 85, 86, 
109, in, 113, 120, 122, 141, 160, 293. 

Delphi amphictiony. See Amphictionic 
League. 

Delphic games, 157. 

Demades, 313. 

Demaratus, 117. 

Deme, 35, 114, 115. 

Demosthenes, the general, 207, 209, 224. 

Demosthenes, the orator, 296-298, 299- 
304, 310, 313, 363, 364, 365, 367-368. 

Dercyllidas, 244. 

Dicaearchia, 48, 63. 

Diodes, 276. 

Diodotus, 205. 

Dion, 283, 284. 

Dionysius the elder, 249, 251, 277-283. 



372 



INDEX 



Dionysius the younger, 283-285. 

Dionysus, 106, 107, 174. 

Dioscurias, 63. 

Dodona, oracle of, 4, 7, 27, 43. 

Dorians, migrations, 29; conquest of the 

Peloponnesus, 30 ; colonies in Italy, 

53- 54. 63 ; in Sicily, 51, 52. 
Doriscus, 40. 
Dracon, 79, 96, 97, 101. 
Drama, 106, 107, 189. 
Drangiana, 341. 
Drapsaca, 342. 
Drepanon, 283. 

Ecclesia, 116. 

Egypt, 16, 6o, 123, 125, 176, 177; con- 
quest by Alexander, 328, 329. 

Eion, 166. 

Eira, 70. 

Elatea, 303. 

Elburz Mountains, 339. 

Eleusis, 117, 231, 238-239. 

Elis, 5, 22, 75, 218, 219, 246, 272, 273 ; 
alliance with Macedonia, 301. 

Epaminondas, 251, 253, 255, 265-274; 
death, 274. 

Ephesus, 25, 127, 318. 

Ephialtes, 170. 

Ephors, 67, 68, 74. 

Epidamnus, 195. 

Epipolae, 222, 279. 

Epirus, 4, 21, 27, 81, 165. 

Erechtheum, 188. 

Eretria, 46, 48, 58, 82, 130. 

Erythrae, 25. 

Eryx, 52, 280, 283. 

Eubcea, 22, 59, 118, 144, 199, 298; colo- 
nies from, 46, 63. 

Eubulus, 294, 296. 

Eumenes of Cardia, 347. 

Eupatridae, 94, 102. 

Euripides, 239, 288. 

Euripus, 117, 144. 

Eurotas River, 5, 30, 64, 68. 

Eurybiadas, 142, 147. 

Eurymedon, general, 207, 219, 224. 

Eurymedon, battle of, 167. 

Fergana, 343. 

Four Hundred at Athens, 227-229. 



Games, Delphic, 157; Isthmian, 87; 

Nemean, 87; Olympian, 75-77, 87; 

Pythian, 87. 
Gaugamela, battle of, 328-332. 
Gaza, 328. 
Gedrosia, 358. 
Gela, 52, 63, 155, 278. 
Gelon, 142, 154. 
Geography, influence of, 1-6. 
Gerusia, 66, 67, 74. 
Gordion, 319. 

Granicus, battle of, 315-316. 
Gyges, 58, 59, 120. 
Gylippus, 223. 

Haliartus, 246. 

Halicarnassus, 31, 292, 318. 

Halys, 120, 123. 

Hamilcar, 155-156. 

Hannibal, 277. 

Harmodius. in. 

Harmost, 241, 252. 

Harpagus, 123. 

Harpalus, 359, 365. 

Heliasa, 99. 

Helicon, 55. 

Hellenotamiae, 162. 

Hellespont, 139. 

Helot, 69, 70, 71, 72, 170. 

Hephaestion, 315, 348, 355. ' 

Heraclea in Pontus, 45, 63. 

Heraclides, 284. 

Heraclitus, 190. 

Herat, 341. 

Hennas, mutilation of, 220. 

Hermus, 24, 25. 

Herodotus, 121, 122, 125, 127, 140, 144, 

190. 
Hesiod, 55, 56. 
Hieron, 156. 
Hiketas, 285. 
Himera, 50, 63, 155. 
Himilco, 280. 

Hindu-Kush Mountains, 341, 343. 
Hipparchus, ill. 
Hippias, in, 113, 129, 130. 
Hippo, 49. 
Hippocleides, 85. 
Hippocrates, 210. 
Hipponion, 282. 



INDEX 



373 



Hisarlik, 12. 

Histiaeus, 125. 

Homer, 31, 32, 33; Homeric constitu- 
tion, 34, 38; poems, 24, 25, 32-34; 
Homeric palace, 25. 

Homoioi, 73. 

Hoplites, 71. 

Hydaspes, 347, 350. 

Hypaspist, 314, 315. 

Hyperbolus, 204. 

Hypereides, 367. 

Hyphasis, 354. 

Hyrcania, 339. 

Ialysus, 17. 

Ictinus, 186. 

Iliad, 31-34. 

Illyrians, 287. 

Imbros, 129, 130, 249. 

India, conquest of. See Alexander. 

Indus, 347, 348. 

Ionia, 25, 127 ; settlements, 22, 24, 25 : 

revolt, 126-129. 
Iphicrates, 248, 264. 
Isagoras, 113, 117. 
Isocrates, 256, 259, 260. 
Issus, battle of, 320-322. 
Istacher, 333. 
Ithome, 68, 69, 170, 269. 

Jason, 264, 266-267. 
Jaxartes, 342. 

Khyber Pass, 348. 
Kilif, 342. 
• Kirman, 357. ' 
Krypteia, 72. 
Kunar, 348. 

Lacedaemonians, 64. 

Laches, 213. 

Laconia, 4, 22, 30, 64, 78, no. 

Lade, 128. 

Lamachus, 220-223. 

Lampsacus, 46, 63, 228, 233. 

Laos, 53, 63. 

Larisa, 28. 

Latmos, 25. 

Laurion, 137, 224. 



Lebedus, 25, 225. 

Lemnos, 129, 130, 249. 

Leonidas, 142, 143, 145, 146. 

Leontini, 50, 63, 219, 278, 279, 285. 

Leosthenes, 366. 

Leotychidas, 154, 161, 244. 

Lesbos, 23, 168, 203, 205, 292. 

Leuctra, 264, 265, 266. 

Lilybaeum, 283, 285. 

Liturgy, 174-175. 

Locri, 53, 63, 284, 285. 

Lycurgus of Athens, 313, 363, 364. 

Lycurgus of Sparta, 74, jj. 

Lydia, 18, 58-60, 119, 120, 123, 316, 318. 

Lysander, 231, 233, 238, 245, 246. 

Macedonia, 4, 21, 46,287; organization 

of army, 290, 291. 
Masander, 25. 

Magnesia on the Hermus, 24, 58. 
Magnesia on the Masander, 25. 
Magnesian Mountains, 4. 
Mago, 285. 

Malli . 355- 357- 

Mantinea, 109, 161, 218, 219, 250, 267; 

battle of, 273-274. 
Marathon, 130; battle of, 131-134. 
Mardonius, 129, 139, 150, 153. 
Mareotis, 328. 
Masalia, 154. 
Massagetae, 343. 
Mausolis, 291-292. 
Mazaeus, 332, 333. 
Media, 119, 126. 
Medontids, 92, 98. 
Megabates, 127. 
Megacles of Athens, I., 84, 85, 96, 102, 

104, 113. 
Megacles of Athens, II., 113, 136. 
Megacles of Athens, III., 113. 
Megalopolis, 267, 274, 301,363. 
Megara. 31, 63, 83, 96, 103, no, 175, 176, 

182, 196, 210. 
Megara, colony in Italy, 51, 63. 
Megaris, 4. 
Melos, 7, 219, 220. 
Memnon, 316, 318. 
Memphis, 176, 328. 
Mesembria, 43. 
Messana, 50, 280. 



374 



INDEX 



Messene, 269. 

Messenia, 5; Spartan conquest of, 68- 

71, 72, 75, 77, 78; revolt of the Helots, 

170, 171 ; foundation of Messene, 269. 
Methone, 46, 63, 271, 289. 
Methymna, 254. 
Metic, 164. 
Miletus, 25, 44, 58, 59, 60, 80, 120, 125- 

128, 225, 318. 
Miltiades, 106, 126, 129, 130, 131, 134. 
Mindarus, 230. 
Motya, 52, 279, 280, 283. 
Multan, 355, 356. 
Mycale, 25, 153. 
Mycenae, 4, 8, 16, 18, 78; civilization, 8- 

12, 16-19, 26; palace at, 11; tombs, 

11 ; destruction of, 30. 
Mylasa, 292. 
Myronides, 176, 178. 
Mysia, 18. 
Mytilene, 80, 203-205, 225, 232, 254. 

Narbarzanes, 339. 

Naucratis, 60. 

Naupactus, 171, 175, 179, 206, 246, 304. 

Naxos, 126, 167, 254. 

Naxos, colony in Sicily, 50, 63, 221, 279. 

Nearchus, 355, 358, 359. 

Nedon, 70. 

Nicaea, 347. 

Nicanor, 315. 

Nicias, 206, 213, 219,220-224; peace of, 

214, 215. 
Nile, 60, 176. 

Nisaea, 103, 104, 175, 210, 230. 
Nomothetae, 230, 238. 
Notion, 232. 

Odyssey, 32-34, 46. 

CEcist, 43. 

GEnophyta, 178. 

CEta, 29, 143. 

Olympia, 5, 157 ; battle of, 272, 273. 

Olympian Games, 75-77. 

Olympias, 291, 307. 

Olympus, 4, 7. 

Olynthus, 196, 250, 289, 297-299. 

Omphis, 347. 

Onomarchus, 294. 

Orchomenus, 4, 12, 22, 181, 305. 



Oropus, 270, 306. 
Ortygia, 155, 222. 
Ossa, 4. 

Ostracism, 135, 136. 
Oxus, 342. 

Paeonians, 287, 289. 

Pagae, 175. 

Pagasae, 28. 

Pallene, 46, 196. 

Pamphylia, 167, 318. 

Panathenaea, 107, 111. 

Panormus, 52, 155, 282. 

Parmenio, 316, 318, 320, 326, 330, 339, 341. 

Parnassus, 4, 29. 

Parnon Mountains, 4, 68. 

Paros, 62. 

Parthenon, 186. 

Patala, 357. 

Pausanias, victor at Plataea, 152, 159- 
161, 165. 

Pausanias, 238, 246, 307. 

Pelasgians, 12, 17, 90. 

Pelion, 28. 

Pella, 288, 299. 

Pellene, 270. 

Pelopidas, 251, 265, 270, 272. 

Peloponnesus, 3 ; Greek settlements in, 
22, 28, 109, 175, 182, 185 ; War, causes, 
195-198 ; Spartan invasion of Attica, 
199 ; Pylos and Sphacteria, 207-210 ; 
Delium, 210; loss of Amphipolis, 
214; peace of Nicias, 214, 215; re- 
volt of Athen's allies, 224-226; suc- 
cess of Lysander, 231; battle of 
Arginusse, 231; ^Egospotami, 233; 
the King's Peace, 248 ; Arcadian 
League, 267-270; battle of Olympia, 
272 ; battle of Mantinea, 273-274. 

Peneus, 4, 27. 

Perdiccas, 196, 212. 

Perdiccas II., 288. 

Periander, 81, 82. 

Pericles, 170, 172 ; 175, 183-185, 191-194, 
200-202. 

Perinthus, 302, 303. 

Periceci, 64, 66, 70. 

Persepolis, 333, 334. 

Persia (see also Cyrus, Darius), 119- 
126; Ionic Revolt, 126-129; expedition 



INDEX 



375 



of Darius, 129-135 ; expedition of 
Xerxes, 139-154; campaigns of the 
Confederacy of Delos, 166-167 '< Athens 
makes peace, 180 ; intervention in the 
Peloponnesian War, 226; Cyrus and 
Lysander, 231-233 ; rebellion of Cy- 
rus, 241-244 ; war of Sparta against 
Persia, 240-245 ; King's Peace, 248, 
249; invasion of Alexander, 313-338. 

Phaleron, 133, 137, 192. 

Pharnabazus, 225, 230, 237, 244, 245, 
248. 

Pheidias, 186, 188, 202. 

Pheidon, 75, 78. 

Pherse, 28, 264, 294. 

Philip of Acarnania, 319. 

Philip of Macedonia (see also Mace- 
donia), 270, 288-291 ; 294-298 ; peace 
with, 299-301 ; advance upon Athens, 
301-304 ; battle of Chaeronea, 304-305 ; 
peace with Athens, 306 ; death, 307 ; 
character, 308. 

Philip, son of Machatas, 348. 

Philocrates, peace of, 299, 301. 

Philomelus, 293, 294. 

Philotas, 315, 341. 

Phlius, 31 ; 250. 

Phocaea, 25, 46. 

Phocion, 298, 303, 363, 367. 

Phocis, 4, 29, 145 ; Sacred War, 293-295, 
300-301. 

Phcebidas, 250. 

Phoenicians, influence of, 40; settle- 
ments of, 49, 52. 

Phormio, 206. 

Phoros, 162. 

Phratra, 35. 

Phrygia, 27, 58, 225, 319. 

Phrynichus, oligarch, 227; 229. 

Phrynichus, poet, 128 ; 189. 

Phyle, 237. 

Phyllidas, 251, 252. 

Pindar, 157. 

Pindus Mountains, 4, 28. 

Piraeus, 108, 137, 163, 164, 191-192. 

Pisa, 75, 272. 

Pisander, 227. 

Pisatis, 69. 

Pisistratus, 103-109; in. 

Pittacus, 80. 



Plataea, 117, 132, 198, 306; battle, 152- 

153 ; siege of, 202, 203. 
Plato, 256, 283, 284. 
Pleistoanax, 181. 
Polemarch, 92, 135. 
Pollis, 254. 
Polybiadas, 250. 
Pontus, colonies in, 44-45. 
Porus, 348, 350-353. 
Posidonia, 48. 
Potidasa, 46, 63, 82, 195, 196, 201, 271, 

289. 
Praxiteles, 260. 
Probuli, 224. 
Prophthasia, 341. 
Propontis, colonies in, 45. 
Propylea, 187. 
Prytaneis, 116. 

Psammetichus of Corinth, 82. 
Psammetichus of Egypt, 60. 
Psyttalea, 148, 149. 
Ptolemy, 288. 

Ptolemy, son of Lagus, 343. 
Pydna, 46, 63, 271, 289. 
Pylos, 207-210, 230. 
Pythagoras, 189. 

Ravee, 348, 356. 

Rhacotis, 328. 

Rhegion, 51 ; 63. 

Rhegium, 219, 220, 280, 282. 

Rhodes, 17, 31, 225, 246, 254, 292, 303; 

colonies from, 52, 63. 
Roxane, 346. 

Sacred War, first, 85-87; second, 292, 

294, 299, 300, 301. 
Salamis, 103, 104, 146, 147-149. 
Samarcand, 243, 342. 
Samos, 25, 59, 168, 194, 227-229. 
Sangala, 353. 
Sappho, 81. 

Sardis, 59, 120, 123, 127, 316. 
Satibarzanes, 339. 
Satrapy, 123. 
Scyrus, 166, 249. 
Scythia, 123, 125. 

Segesta (Egesta), 52, 219, 220, 276. 
Seisactheia, 98. 
Seistan, 341. 



376 



INDEX 



Selinus, 51, 52, 63, 158, 283. 
Selymbria, 45. 
Sepias, 144. 

Sestos, 45, 154, 160, 161, 315. 
Sicily, early inhabitants, 48 ; Carthagin- 
ian settlements, 49 ; Greek colonies, 

5o-53. 
Sicyon, 31, 84, 86, 270. 
Sidon, 40, 324. 
Sigeum, 106, 113. 
Simonides, 157. 
Sinope, 45, 46, 63. 
Sipylus, mountain, 24. 
Sithonia, 140. 
Slavery, 60-61. 
Smyrna, 24, 32. 
Socrates, 191, 256-259. 
Sogd, 342. 
Sogdiana, 342-346. 
Solon, 79, 97-98, 100, 104, 114, 122. 
Solus, 52, 280. 
Sophists, 190, 191. 
Sophocles, the general, 207, 219. 
Sophocles, the poet, 189. 
Sparta {see also under Peloponnesus), 
4, 64, 68-70, 109, in, 113, 117, 133, 
140; constitution, 65-68; system, 
71-73; aids Syracuse, 222-224; war 
with Persia, 244-246; Corinthian war, 
246-249 ; supremacy of, 249-251 ; 
invasion of Epaminondas, 267-274; 
invasion of Philip, 306 ; rebels against 
Macedonia, 363. 
Sphacteria, 208-210. 
Sphodrias, 252, 253. 
Spitamenes, 346. 
Statira, 360. 
Strategos, 135. 

Strymon, 46, 166, 167, 213, 214. 
Sunium, 90, 133. 
Susa, 122, 333. 
Susia, 339. 
Sybaris, 53, 63. 
Sybota, 195. 

Syracuse, 51, 63, 142, 155-158, 219-224. 
Syria, 27, 323-327. 

Tanagra, 177, 179. 
Tapurian Mountains, 339. 
Tarentum, 54, 63, 70. 



Tarsus, 359. 

Taxila, 348. 

Taygetus Mountains, 4, 68. 

Tegea, 109, no. 

Tegyra, 254. 

Teleutias, 250. 

Tempe, Vale of, 4, 142, 143. 

Temples: Apollo in Delos, 106; Apollo 
at Didyma, 128 ; Athena and Erech- 
theus, 107; Athena Nike, 187; Athena 
Polias, 96, 109 ; Bel, 333 ; Delphi {see 
Delphi); Dionysus, 106; Doric, 82; 
Erechtheum, 188; Heliconian Posei- 
don, 25 ; Parthenon, 186 ; Restoration 
of, on the Acropolis, 185-190; Zeus 
Ammon, 241, 329; Zeus at Olympia, 
188. 

Ten Thousand, March of, 241-244. 

Tenea, 18. 

Teos, 25, 225. 

Thales, 189. 

Thapsacu.s, 242, 329. 

Thara, 336. 

Thasos, 59, 62, 129, 167. 

Theagenes, 83, 96, 103. 

Thebes, 4, 29; Boeotian Federation, 87- 
88; League against Athens, 117-118; 
Persian War, 151 ; Alliance with 
Sparta against Athens, 177-179, 181 ; 
attack on Platsea, 198, 202-203 ; Alli- 
ance with Athens, 247-248 ; conspir- 
acy, 251-258; Peace of Callias, 254; 
battle of Leuctra, 264-267 ; policy in 
southern Greece, 267-269 ; war with 
Athens, 271 ; Sacred War, 292-295 ; 
Alliance with Athens, 303-305 ; revolt 
and destruction, 312-313. 

Themistocles, 136, 137, 163-166; at Sala- 
mis, 147-149; ostracism and death, 
165-166. 

Theramenes, 227, 229, 230, 236, 237. 

Therma, 140. 

Thermopylae, 86, 143-146, 294, 295. 

Theron, 155. 

Theseus, 91, 166. 

Thesmothetae, 95. 

Thessaly, 4, 22, 27, 301. 

Thetes, 95, 99. 

Thirty, rule of the, 236-239. 

Thrace, 21, 125, 140, 143, 215, 295, 300; 



mi 3- "w* 



INDEX 



377 



conquest by Philip, 302; campaigns 

of Alexander in, 312. 
Thrasybulus of Athens, 228-230, 237, 

246, 248. 
Thrasybulus of Miletus, 80. 
Thrasyllus, 228, 233. 
Thucydides, 53, 213, 235, 239. 
Thucydides, son of Melesias, 183, 191, 

193- 
Thurii, 221, 282. 
Timocracy, at Athens, 94. 
Timoleon, 285, 286. 
Timotheus, 255, 271. 
Tiribazus, 248, 249. 
Tiryns, 4, 8, 16, 78; destruction of, 30; 

palace at, 10. 
Tissaphernes, 225, 227, 243, 244. 
Tolmedes, 179, 181. 
Torone, 271. 



Trapezus, 45, 63, 243. 
Trierarchy, 164. 
Trireme, 57, 58. 
Trittys, 114, 115. 
Troezen, 146. 
Trojan War, 24, 32-34. 
Troy, 7, 12, 24, 32. 
Tyrannis, 79. 
Tyre, 40, 324-327. 
Tyrtaeus, 70. 

Xanthippus, 136, 142, 154. 

Xenophon, 239, 242, 243. 

Xerxes (see also Persia) , 139-154. 

Zadracarta, 339. 
Zancle, 50, 51, 63. 
Zariaspa, 344. 
Zeuxis, 288. 






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